After an incredible start to the 2025-26 season, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama looks poised to be the best player in the NBA. He has Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon partly to thank, with Wembanyama working out with him last summer.
Thus far, Wembanyama has shown off some impressive post moves, resulting in him becoming a nightmare to stop offensively. Defensively, he is already the best defender in the NBA and has picked up where he left off prior to having last season cut short.
In just his second regular game of the season, he blocked a staggering nine shots and has blocked at least five shots four times in the Spurs’ first five games. That has put him on pace to shatter Olajuwon’s record for career blocks, which Olajuwon fully expects to happen.
“The only person I see that can break my record is Wemby for sure.”
— Hakeem Olajuwon on Victor Wembanyama’s potential pic.twitter.com/ZloB89Lkws
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) October 22, 2025
Hakeem Olajuwon predicts Wembanyama will break the blocks record
At this point in Wembanyama’s career, it appears that he is a lock to eventually break the record, with him more than 100 blocks ahead of Olajuwon’s pace in the same amount of games. Even despite Wembanyama missing half of his second season.
Through their first 120 NBA games:
🔸Victor Wembanyama: 1301 REB
🔸Karl Malone: 1091 REB🔸Wembanyama: 2738 PTS
🔸LeBron James: 2680 PTS🔸Wembanyama: 274 3PM
🔸Stephen Curry: 242 3PM🔸Wembanyama: 448 BLK
🔸Hakeem Olajuwon: 337 BLKONE OF ONE 👽 pic.twitter.com/PAsz8FTe2k
— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) October 30, 2025
It is also worth noting Wembanyama is currently nearly 3 years younger than Olajuwon was when he made his NBA debut. That means he is not only well ahead of his Olajuwon’s pace but also far younger too.
The only thing possibly preventing him from breaking that record is Wembanyama being unable to stay healthy. Hopefully, he can because he could be an all-time great if he does.
It would take him playing 1049 games to break Olajuwon’s record, assuming he continues to block 3.7 shots per game. That is a tall task, even for Wembanyama, with no player his size having played anywhere near that amount of games.
Longevity will be key for Victor Wembanyama to catch Olajuwon
With 3,830 being the mark that Wembanyama has to surpass, it is ironic that that is even the official number. The previous record holder, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, amassed more than 3,200 blocks, but the first six seasons of his career weren’t counted.
Considering he blocked about 200 shots per season between his sixth and 12th seasons, it’s reasonable that the record should be at least 4,000. That is not to mention Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, who both might have blocked even more had that stat been counted.
Nevertheless, Wembanyama is on pace to break Olajuwon’s record. He will just have to play long enough to be able to make history.
