NBA Rookie Rankings: Victor Wembanyama posts first-of-its-kind statline, Warriors rookie earning his minutes

Also, Chet Holmgren sinks the Warriors again

There's been a lot of focus on the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons as both are in the midst of historic levels of losing. The Spurs are 3-20, while the Pistons sit at a worse 2-22, and while some jokes and criticism about these losses is fair to some extent, let's just all remember that the Spurs are the youngest team in the league with an average age of 23.52 years, while the Pistons are the eighth youngest and also just got back arguably their most important player in Bojan Bogdanovic last week. Criticism is fair, because really some of these losses have been awful, but let's not act like these young players aren't still putting up some impressive performances.  

Sure the Pistons have been a train wreck, but Ausar Thompson has been stellar on defense, as he's taken on the task of guarding some of the top players in the league. He's also been a rebounding machine averaging the second-most boards (8.4) in his class behind only Wembanyama. He's shown flashes as a scorer, and his latest 20-point outing on 80% from the field was the perfect example of that. So it's unfair when someone like Gilbert Arenas says said "you're not in my future" about Thompson, because he's only averaging 10 points. Remember, this is a 20-year-old rookie just 23 games into his NBA career. We can't really go around making grand statements like that, especially when Thompson has been one of the silver linings in Detroit's never-ending storm cloud.

Now, let's move on to the rookies who stood out the most this week. Keep in mind that these rankings will reflect a rookie's performance on a week-to-week basis only, not the collective season. These aren't Rookie of the Year standings, but rather a reflection on what the player has done over the past week. With that straightened out, here is a look at the top five performers from the NBA's freshman class:

The Spurs are still losing but Wemby is still putting up 2K numbers. Wednesday night it was a 30-point, 13-rebound, 6-block game in which he drained four three pointers, and apparently that's the only time in NBA history that exact statline has happened. And yes, I checked my work after coming across it on StatMuse, and as unbelievable as that sounds it's true. That's honestly just a testament to how impressive Wembanyama's been in his rookie year.

Even if you took the 3s away, Wemby is still the first rookie since Tim Duncan to put up at least 30 points, 10 boards and six blocks. So either way you spin it, he's just in rare company. Anthony Davis called Wemby "one of them ones," after battling the French phenom Wednesday night, adding to the laundry list of compliments he's received from the top players in the NBA. Wembanyama's already playing at a level that is going to make it difficult for the Spurs to take things slow in their rebuild. He's ready to win right now, and San Antonio needs to do whatever it can to ensure he's surrounded by enough talent to complement his talents sooner rather than later. 

If it weren't for the latest antics of Draymond Green which landed him -- once again -- on the suspension list for the Warriors, Holmgren might be the most disliked man in San Francisco right now. I'm only partially kidding, but just as a refresher, about a month ago Holmgren dropped 36 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and an absurd game-tying 3-pointer on the road to send the game against Golden State to overtime, in which the Thunder eventually won. It was a tough as nails shot that you see out of the game's most clutch players, not a rookie in Game 13 of their career. 

Fast forward to this week and Holmgren once again sank three points to send a game against the Warriors to overtime, they were less climactic free-throw attempts, but still the sentiment was there. Green fouled Holmgren off the inbounds pass and the rookie sank all three attempts with the poise of a well-seasoned veteran. The Thunder also went on to win that game, with Green later calling the Thunder rookie a "possibly generational player." Surprisingly -- or maybe not if you've been watching Holmgren frequently this season -- that wasn't even his best performance of the week. That came in a super efficient 16-point, eight-rebound game where he also racked up two blocks and assists apiece while also going 6 of 9 from the field and 2 of 3 from deep.

Unfortunately George's week ended with an injury as he played in just four minutes of Utah's win over the Knicks with a left foot injury. He's expected to get an MRI on it to assess the severity of the injury, and hopefully he won't miss too much time as he's been on a tear lately. He was coming off a 30-point heater against the Thunder before the injury, where his scoring versatility was on full display. 

He has speed, but unlike most first-year players he seems to already know how to use it to his advantage. That's something young players typically struggle with out of the gate, always trying to go in turbo mode when it's not always needed, but George already has an idea of when to slow down and change up his rhythm to give himself an advantage. And if you give him a bit of space to operate with, it's over. Just look at how quickly he gets around his screen set by Kelly Olynyk to shake free of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to create some space for a jumper:

He's a headache to contain because of his crafty handle and quickness, and he's already got a dangerous first step that allows him to catch his defender on his hip. Like this:

In Golden State's loss to the Suns this week Podziemski became the first Warriors rookie since Stephen Curry to put up 20+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists in a game. Eighteen of those points came in the second half, in which he started in place of Andrew Wiggins out of halftime, including over 10 minutes in the fourth quarter, the most of any Warriors player. It was a surprising move from Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, but Podziemski's play warranted the increased playing time in that game, and given the downward spiral the Warriors have been in, something needed to change. "Brandin's great, every night," Kerr said. "He rebounds, defends, he's a two-way player. And that's what it takes to win in this league, you've gotta have two-way guys. He's earning all of his minutes." 

Here's a wild stat: Lively is leading the NBA in field goal percentage right now at 73.7% on the season. It wouldn't be surprising if he finished in the top 5 of that category at season's end. That's just how good he's been. The Mavericks were praised for drafting Lively back in June, but I don't think anyone could've predicted that he would make this much of an impact this early. He's only played in 21 games and the rookie is already Dallas' best center since Tyson Chandler. Sure, the bar since Chandler was literally on the ocean floor, but it also speaks to how impactful Lively has been. He's the perfect pick-and-roll partner for Luka Doncic, his aggressiveness in seeking out offensive boards is giving Dallas second-chance opportunities and while he still has tons of room for improvement on defense, he's shown flashes of being an elite rim protecting big in this league for a long time.