Gregg Popovich had the most 'Pop' response ever about Victor Wembanyama’s preseason debut

It’s not often that there’s a preseason NBA game with the type of hype and intrigue surrounding it like the one that took place on Monday night between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. The preseason game not only marked the NBA debut of Spurs No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama, but also pit him up against the Thunder's 2022 No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren, who missed all of last season due to a Lisfranc injury during a pro-am event prior to last season.

Fortunately for the fans, neither player disappointed — although that didn’t stop Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich from giving probably the exact response you’d expect from him following Wembanyama’s strong night with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and one block.

“I thought it was fine. He just went out and played,” Popovich said while discussing Wembanyama’s preseason debut, per Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. “No big game plan for him or anything like that. He just played basketball, which he likes to do and he’s good at it.”

While Wembanyama certainly did his part to live up to the early hype in just 19 minutes of action, the same can be said about Holmgren as well. The 7-foot-1 former Gonzaga star poured in 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 16 minutes, while pulling down nine rebounds with one block and one assist.

The towering big men for the Spurs and Thunder have a legitimate chance to start one of the most enjoyable battles to watch for many years to come, assuming both pan out and live up to even a decent percentage of their projected upside. Interestingly, both players are eligible to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award this season, so that’ll be another storyline worth monitoring.