Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gives advice to Victor Wembanyama / News - Basketnews.com

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gave advice to Victor Wembanyama, saying that the most difficult part is in learning how you can best contribute to a winning effort.

Credit: AP-Scanpix Credit AP-Scanpix

Even though Victor Wembanyama did not have the debut he wanted in the NBA Summer League, he will still have something to remember about the night.

Victor Wembanyama

Position:CAge:19Height:223 cmWeight:95 kgBirth place:FranceProfileNewsStatistics

"I think the hardest for me was the understanding," Wembanyama said after his debut. "Sometimes, I was offering them the plays and the calls. The biggest improvement that I have to do is to be ready to react to the plays that are called by the point guard and stay connected."

Wembanyama finished the game - a win against the Charlotte Hornets - with 9 points on just 2-for-13 shooting, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 blocks. He made his first field goal in the first quarter and the second only in the fourth quarter.

Later on, Wembanyama admitted that conditioning is the one thing he has to improve, as all the running up and down the court left him exhausted, per Rachel Nichols.

"It's a special setting. We don't have much time to warm up. As a team, I think it wasn't our best shooting game. It's something we have to adapt to, it's just the way it is," Wemby concluded.

Abdul-Jabbar told Wembanyama that he was in a similar situation when he was drafted in 1969 by theMilwaukee Bucks. He said he was starting in his first exhibition game and didn't have any time to work his way into the role.

"You have things to learn, but as you see, he's an intelligent young man, he'll get it done," Abdul-Jabbar told Andrew Lopez from ESPN.

"The difficulty is in learning how you can best contribute to a winning effort," Abdul-Jabbar said. "That's what you got to learn how to do with your skill set. And you will find out what that is basically in preseason, you'll find out a lot about that."

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