Victor Wembanyama is the franchise player of the San Antonio Spurs. There's no debate about that. When he was selected first overall in the 2023 Draft, he transformed the fate of a franchise that had essentially tanked to land him, following years of stagnation in the wake of the dynasty built by Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan crumbling apart.

After six consecutive seasons outside the playoffs, the Spurs currently sit second in the West with a 38-16 record, and that turnaround is credited first and foremost to the French giant. He's averaging 24.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game, turning San Antonio into one of the league's best defensive teams and a legitimate contender that has already beaten the reigning champion and Western Conference leader, the Oklahoma City Thunder, four times this season.

That said, a comparison with two other star centers in the league - players who, like Wembanyama, are versatile and capable of doing far more than the men who occupied the center position in years past - reveals a meaningful gap that tells us a great deal about the Spurs' offense this season, and also about the limitations of Wembanyama - still just 22 years old - as a player.

Nikola Jokić is the hub of the Denver Nuggets' offense. Everything flows through him. When Denver's offense stalls, the ball finds him at the elbow or in the low post, and he creates something - usually a pass to an open teammate. Jokić averages 10.7 assists per game.

Anyone who watches Houston play knows that Alperen Şengün is one of the players filling the void left by the injured Fred VanVleet at point guard, running the offense for stretches. Şengün averages 6.3 assists per game. Wembanyama, by contrast, averages just 2.8 assists per game. The implication is clear: San Antonio's offense does not revolve around Wembanyama's ability to create for others.

The pace of play for all three teams further illustrates the stylistic differences. Houston ranks 28th in the league in pace at 96.59. Denver is 25th at 98.42. The Spurs, meanwhile, are way up the list at 100.86, sitting 13th in the league. In other words, San Antonio wants to run, and doesn't wait - or doesn't need to wait - for its center to join the play and orchestrate things. They thrive in the fast break. Another indicator of that pace: the Spurs rank sixth in the league in transition points, averaging 27.1 per game.

The central reason for these stylistic differences is that Wembanyama isn't really a center -and he isn't even a "modern" center in the mold of Jokić and Şengün, who can operate both facing the basket and with their back to it. Wembanyama is, in essence, a guard in a 7'4" body: capable of handling the ball, pushing it in the open court, shooting from three, and creating off the dribble. He has almost no post-up game, primarily due to physical limitations. Here's another telling indicator: Denver leads the league in post-up frequency at 6.6% of possessions; Houston ranks fourth at 6.0%. San Antonio sits 21st at just 2.7% of possessions. That is not the statistical profile of a team with a dominant post-center, simply because Wemby is not that player.

So what does a typical San Antonio Spurs possession look like? As we've established, coach Mitch Johnson's Spurs want to run. That's the priority. The second priority -in the half court, too - is to attack the paint. And since post-up play isn't really an option, the primary tool is the drive. The Spurs' offensive identity is centered on penetration. And no, this isn't necessarily drive-to-pass. San Antonio's point-guard-by-committee - De'Aron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper (the latter coming off the bench) -push the ball up the floor and look to attack the basket first. Keldon Johnson attacks off the dribble at every opportunity as well. And when the half-court sets up, they're still looking for the drive -off a pick-and-roll, handoff, pin-down, or staggered screen.

The Spurs' offense is typically 5-out, with an emphasis on spacing and very simple, short actions - nothing overly complicated. When you have the ball, you're looking to drive first. Here's a collection of drives - all examples are from the game against the Golden State Warriors before the All-Star break.

And like every well-coached, analytics-savvy team, the second priority when a finish at the rim isn't available is the three-pointer. After establishing themselves as a drive-first team, the Spurs become a drive-and-kick team -an action that can end in a made shot, a second drive, or ball movement that tests the rotations and sends the defense into the blender. Here are the drive-and-kick possessions from the Warriors game.

Even so, Wembanyama's offensive presence as the five can't be dismissed entirely. It manifests primarily as a screener in the pick-and-roll who rolls hard to the rim, or as a dunker-spot threat while teammates attack - a role his backup, Luke Kornet, fills as well. San Antonio's flexible offense can shift from 5-out to 4-out-1-in, and in those configurations the guards also look for the drop pass or the lob to the big - typically a lob, when it's Wembanyama - on drives.

Here are the drive-and-drop and drive-and-lob, along with ball screen possessions from the Warriors game.

San Antonio's offense does include designed plays for Wembanyama - for instance, a ball screen which is set for him as a ball handler out of a timeout.

There are also pin-down plays and face-up isolation sets. Wemby remains the team's most important and most gifted offensive player. The question is whether, deeper into his career, there is another developmental leap waiting - one that transforms him into an offensive hub in the Jokić-Şengün mold, with all his athletic and physical advantages - or whether we are simply witnessing an unprecedented phenomenon in basketball history: a guard among guards, capable of driving and finishing exactly like one, only in a 7'4" frame. The upcoming playoffs will give us the first real answers.