God Shammgod is a hoops legend from Harlem whose devilish, distinctive crossover move bears his name. (Kobe Bryant’s father famously asked Shammgod to teach “the Shammgod” to Kobe.) He is a man of serious reputation. And yet there he was, a few weeks ago, at a Dallas Mavericks practice—Shammgod is now a player-development coach for the Mavs—wearing long pads that resembled a cross between boxing mitts and canoe paddles strapped to his arms. He was running out to the three-point line, like some overexcited fan waving two giant foam fingers, shouting, “Wemby! Wemby!”
Wemby is Victor Wembanyama, a rookie for the San Antonio Spurs. He is seven feet four inches tall, with an eight-foot wingspan. Shammgod is six feet tall. The Mavericks have just one player, Dereck Lively II, who stands above seven feet, and he is merely seven feet one. How, then, to prepare for the team’s opening-night game against the Spurs? Apparently, not with force but with farce. After seeing a viral video of the Mavericks’ use of props, Zach Collins, the Spurs’ center, laughed. “I don’t blame them,” he said. “Shit.”
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