It’s only Jan. 3, but the NBA world may be hard-pressed to find a hotter take than the one recently offered by Metta Sandiford-Artest (formerly Ron Artest and Metta World Peace). The longtime elite NBA defender, who played 17 seasons with six teams including six years with the Los Angeles Lakers, is all-in on San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama.
Sandiford-Artest offered high praise to Wembanyama recently, predicting that he could average 40 points per game, and more importantly, compared him to Wilt Chamberlain while predicting he’ll score 101 points in a single game.
“He’s the closest to Wilt [Chamberlain] that we’ll ever see … I think this kid’s going to beef up, he’s going to get better and he’s gonna run into like a Detroit Pistons from this year, or the Clippers from 20 years ago, and he’s gonna go get 101 [points] at some point in time in the next seven years,” Sandiford-Artest said on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back.
“He’s gonna for sure catch a rhythm where some rookie that can’t guard, doesn’t know how to deny, can’t backdoor, making a ton of mistakes and boom, 101-piece, averaging 40, I think you’re gonna see it from this kid,” Artest concluded.
"[Victor Wembanyama] is the closest to Wilt [Chamberlain] that we'll ever see...He's going to run into a Detroit Pistons from this year, or the Clippers from 20 years ago, and he going to go get 101."@MettaWorld37 has high praise for Wemby 🙌 Could he beat Wilt's record??
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) January 2, 2024
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This is unquestionably an incredible statement, as Chamberlain remains the only player in NBA history to ever score 100 points in a game. The Hall-of-Famer is widely considered one of the greatest ever to play the game, and has a grocery list of incredible accomplishments, including pulling down 55 rebounds in a single game.
