Wemby's 'Humbleness' Praised by De'Aaron Fox, Spurs Star 'Could Be an A-hole If He Wanted'

San Antonio Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox praised Victor Wembanyama's humility ahead of Wednesday night's Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

"I think his humbleness is the first thing that you see whenever you're around him," he told ESPN. "This guy could be an a-hole if he wanted to be because of the talent that he has at such a young age. He's nowhere near that and he's nowhere near his potential as well. He's a better person than he is basketball player and I think that's saying something because we all know how good he is as a basketball player and he's just selfless."

Nobody would blame Wemby if he had a bit of arrogance to him. After all, he's led the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA Finals in just his third season and finished third in the MVP voting after averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.1 blocks and a steal per game while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from three.

But the common refrain from Wemby's teammates is that he carries himself with an air of humility and grace.

"He doesn't make anyone carry his bags," Spurs forward Julian Champagnie told Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News in February. "After a game, we have security that helps us out. We all do that. The rookies, we pick on them a little bit. There are some guys who take advantage of that. But that's not how he maneuvers. He's very humble in what he does and how he does it."

"It doesn't matter who you are, he's trying to embrace you, get everyone into the culture of the team from top to bottom," Stanley Umude added. "He's all about winning. No ego stuff going on. With him it's, 'We're all here with the same goal in mind and we're just trying to get it done.'"

That translates to the court, where Wembanyama could easily demand everything run through him but seeks the balance between getting his teammates involved and understanding when the moment calls for him to take over as the superstar.

"There are times where he's playing with really good, young, dynamic players and they get the ball, and (everybody) has these crazy expectations and everybody wants him to do everything all the time," head coach Mitch Johnson told Orsborn. "And for him to be able to compartmentalize his own expectations, which we know are very, very lofty, let alone the outside world and all the crazy noise and everybody thinking they have the perfect idea of what he should be doing, to be able to (ignore) all that and always put the team at the forefront (takes) a ridiculous amount of humility, character and just composure for someone that age. And, to be honest, I don't think it gets discussed enough."