Wembanyama's poor shooting in debut game

Victor Wembanyama, a highly touted French player in the NBA, struggled with his shooting in the Spurs' opening game of the 2026-2027 season, making just one of 13 field goal attempts for a 7.7% success rate. His team lost 104-116 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on October 20.

Historical context of poor shooting

A study by RotoGrinders found that Wembanyama’s performance was the worst among 344 first games of All-NBA players since the 2000-2001 season. No player in that group had a lower shooting percentage with at least ten attempts than his 7.7%.

Wembanyama's performance compared to past players

Wembanyama’s 7.7% success rate was worse than the previous worst, which was 14.3% by Vince Carter in 2001. The gap between the two performances was 6.6 percentage points, significantly below the average success rate of 46.4% in the study.

Details of Wembanyama's shooting struggles

Wembanyama missed his first 12 shots in the game, scoring his only field goal at the end of the third quarter on an alley-oop from De'Aaron Fox. His remaining 10 points came from free throws, highlighting his difficulty in scoring from the field.

Other players with poor first-game shooting

Only five players in the study had fallen below a 20% success rate in their first game. These included Vince Carter, James Harden, Gilbert Arenas, Stephon Marbury, and LeBron James, all of whom eventually improved their performance in subsequent games.

Improvement after poor first-game shooting

The study noted that all but one of the players with poor first-game performances improved their shooting accuracy in the next three games. Some, like Gilbert Arenas and Stephon Marbury, saw their success rates jump over 45%, showing a pattern of recovery after a rough start.

Historical precedent with Spurs' players

Even Tim Duncan, a legendary center for the San Antonio Spurs, had a poor first-game performance, making 3 of 14 shots (21.4%) in the 2002-2003 season. He later improved to 49.3% in his next three games, illustrating that such struggles are not uncommon for high-profile players.

Wembanyama's potential for improvement

Wembanyama will face the Houston Rockets on Friday, offering a chance to bounce back from his poor shooting performance. While his offensive struggles were evident, his 13 rebounds and 6 blocks indicate he still had a significant impact on the game in other areas.