Gilbert Arenas has a top five and Victor Wembanyama is not in it. That much is clear after the former NBA guard sat down for the To The Baha podcast and rattled off five names he puts above the San Antonio Spurs’ 7-foot-4 phenom. The list: Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant. Yes, Durant is still playing, and yes, Arenas was asked about it.
“You got Luka, you got Giannis, you got Shai, you got Jokic, you know Kevin Durant is still playing?” Arenas said. He wasn’t being sarcastic. He was making a point: You can’t just bump someone out of the top five because Wembanyama had a good rookie year.
And look, the argument isn’t that Wembanyama isn’t great. He is. He led the league in blocks. He changed games on the defensive end in ways that reminded people of Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan. But for Arenas, defensive dominance alone doesn’t get you into the top five conversation. Not when the guys ahead of you are doing it on both ends.
Arenas Makes His Case for Giannis
Arenas pointed specifically to Antetokounmpo as a measuring stick. He called Giannis’ 2023-24 season a “bad year” — and then noted that bad year was 31 points and 12 rebounds per game. That’s the level of production Arenas expects from a top-five player.
“Defensively he was 1, offensively he’s not top 10 offensively,” Arenas said of Wembanyama. He wasn’t dismissing the kid’s future. He was making a distinction between what Wembanyama did last season versus what a true two-way star does over a full career. Giannis has multiple MVPs and a championship. Durant has two rings and four scoring titles. Those guys earn their spots by winning, not just by projecting.
Arenas didn’t say Wembanyama can’t get there. He said he’s not there yet. That’s a fair line to draw. The Spurs won 22 games last year. Wembanyama was incredible, but his team wasn’t. And in the NBA, team success usually factors into these rankings, even if it shouldn’t always.
The Ceiling Is Real but the Present Matters
Where people get tripped up is the hype. Wembanyama’s rookie season was so unique — the blocks, the footwork, the ability to shoot off the dribble at his height — that it’s easy to assume he’s already an elite offensive player. The numbers say he’s not. He shot 32.5 percent from three and 46.5 percent from the field. Good for a rookie. Not top-five-good for the league.
Arenas’ argument is really about time. He wants to see Wembanyama do it again. And again after that. He wants to see him carry an offense the way Doncic does or dominate a playoff series the way Jokic does. Until that happens, the top five stays closed.
Can Wembanyama force the door open? Probably. But right now the guys inside are still producing at a level he hasn’t matched. Arenas just said it out loud.
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