The 2023 NBA draft is quickly becoming the most anticipated draft in years due to the two players projected to go first and second overall. Victor Wembanyama is a 7’4 behemoth whose height and length compare favorably to former Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert. However, he projects to be both a dominant rim protector and a stretch five.
Meanwhile, Scoot Henderson is an athletic 6’2 guard who’s drawn comparisons to Ja Morant. The 18-year-old is already in his second season with the G League Ignite, which is sort of like an All-Star team for top young prospects who’d rather play in the G League than in college.
Utah Jazz: Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson are set to face off next month.
Both could very easily become stars in the NBA, and hopefully, the Utah Jazz will be in a position to select one of them next June. In the meantime, Jazz fans will get to see them play against one another very soon. On October 4th, Wembanyama’s team, Metropolitan 92, will play the Ignite in the first of two exhibition games in Las Vegas.
While they’re only exhibition games, they’re already receiving a ton of attention, with ESPN even televising them. That gives Jazz fans the rare opportunity to see these two teams play and to scout both Wembanyama’s and Henderson’s strengths and weaknesses ahead of the 2023 NBA draft.
It also gives NBA front offices a chance to see how Wembanyama plays against better competition and how he responds to the increased attention surrounding him.
For Henderson, he has a lot more to prove. He’s already well behind in the race to be the number one pick, and having him close the gap would be great for the Jazz. After all, Wembanyama has virtually no flaws in his game, so Henderson would really have to play well to begin to change people’s minds, but the talent is there.
If he can, then it means that Utah wouldn’t have to land the number one pick to ensure they come away with a future star to build around. That would take away some of the need to tank, with the team only having to finish in the bottom three to share the highest odds with either player.
Moreover, finishing with one of the worst records next season shouldn’t be too difficult for the Jazz to do, so they could just play out the year without having to resort to any blatant tanking methods. That is obviously preferable for fans, who can still root for a young and exciting team to get better without worrying about the Jazz’s draft odds.
All in all, the upcoming exhibition games featuring Wembanyama and Henderson will give many Jazz fans their first chance to see the projected top two picks in next year’s draft. Better yet, with any luck, we’ll soon see one of them in a Jazz uniform.