'Lucky as F--k,' LeBron Opens Up on Spurs Having Wemby and Explains What 'We've Never Seen Before'

LeBron James says it's elite coordination, not just an eight-foot wingspan, that makes San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama special.

James discussed Wembanyama's game around the 46:50 mark of Thursday's episode of his Mind the Game podcast with Steve Nash.

"He's not the first guy in our league to have length or been tall. He's not. So we can nip that in the bud right now, guys," James said. "And yes, it's a factor, because it's his length, his size, the way he's able to cover a lot of ground, especially defensively. But when we talk about what he's able to do offensively, his ability to put the ball on the ground... his coordination, which sometimes looks uncoordinated, but it's because of his length.

"His ability to catch the ball with his back toward the basket, or half of his body, and be able to find the rim before he even lands? That is coordination that we've seen before, and it's not just because he's tall. It's because he has the ability to do things that we haven't seen in our league ever."

James also praised Wembanyama as having high "IQ" when it comes to basketball.

"You can tell by the way he talks, you can tell by his demeanor, he knows the game. He was taught the game the right way," James said. "And San Antonio continues to get lucky as f--k with these generational, talented, IQ, smart... David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and now Wemby.

"Guys who have this dead serious mentality where they have these horse blinders on, and they're like the mission is the mission, and that's all that matters. And it's pretty remarkable to see."

James' comments came shortly after Wembanyama racked up 41 points and 24 rebounds to lead the Spurs to a double-overtime victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Monday night's opening game of the Western Conference Finals.

Only 13 other players have ever recorded that statline in an NBA playoff game, per Stathead and The Athletic's Devon Henderson.

Spurs-Thunder Highlights

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The Thunder managed to limit Wembanyama more by matching him up with Isaiah Hartenstein in Game 2, during which he recorded 21 points and 17 rebounds in a Spurs loss.

Wembanyama said Wednesday night it would take "straight effort" to find an answer to Hartenstein's defense before the series swings to San Antonio for Friday night's Game 3.