Rumors

Cedric Maxwell: "I say the best player I ever played with wasn't Larry. But I played my last year, I played with Hakeem Olajuwon. I think Hakeem Olajuwon was maybe the greatest player of all-time that nobody talks about, because he dominated the floor better than anybody on both ends as ever. Larry was so cold-blooded, man. He would always talk to guys and say, 'Is your coach mad at you?' I'm like, 'Why?' He said, 'Because you have to guard me.' He would tell the coach, 'You must be kidding me.' If you put this white guy on me, I'm embarrassed that you put a white guy to guard me. Larry just had some stuff about him that was a little unusual, a little hickish, but man, what a great player he was."

YouTube

‪NBA Stat‬: Victor Wembanyama finished the 2026 postseason with 524 points, 239 rebounds, 59 assists, 21 steals, and 78 blocks. Only one player in league history has exceeded all five marks in a single playoff run: Hakeem Olajuwon (664/254/98/40/92 in 1994). (via CrazyStats) #NA

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The Spurs succumbed to the same maddening script in their Game 5 loss, squandering a 16-point lead to dash Victor Wembanyama's dream of winning his first championship. Wembanyama was active early and finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, but he faded again with the season on the line. Brunson, the Finals MVP, outscored him 15-3 in the series-deciding fourth quarter. Nevertheless, Wembanyama ranked first in Player Efficiency Rating (26.3) during his first postseason run and led all players in total rebounds and blocks while finishing second to Brunson in points. Wembanyama's playoff averages of 23.8 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.5 blocks have only been matched by Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon among players who reached the Finals. As NBA commissioner Adam Silver noted shortly before Game 1 of the Finals, Wembanyama is "ahead of any timeline that people had in mind."

ESPN

‪Justin Russo‬: Victor Wembanyama finished with 32 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks in Game 3. He joins Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing as the only players to do that in a postseason game at Madison Square Garden since blocks first became official in 1973-74.

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Victor Wembanyama finished with a team-high 26 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, becoming the fourth player since blocks became official (1974) to achieve that line in their Finals debut. The 22-year-old joined Shaquille O'Neal (1995), Hakeem Olajuwon (1986) and Elvin Hayes (1975). Yet that effort went for naught as San Antonio lost an NBA Finals opener for the first time in seven appearances. "Felt like he missed a few shots early," Johnson said of Wembanyama.

ESPN

HoopsHype: Just another playoff record ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Back in the early 1980s, when the NBA was still trying to regain its footing after falling out of favor with large swaths of the American sporting public during the ’70s, the league didn’t have much on which to hang its hat. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were just at the beginning of their pro careers. Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were in college. The NBA’s championship series was still being shown on tape delay — 11:30 p.m. ET, then-Johnny Carson time — to the East Coast of the United States. And no one knew what to call the series.

New York Times

Sean Elliott on Victor Wembanyama: At 22 years old, he's still getting there. I still think he hasn't really begun to reach his true potential. I don't think he's even close, actually. Dan, I feel like he's going to fill out a lot more. He's going to continue to figure out the game a lot more. He's going to continue to work on his game because that's the kind of person he is and that's the kind of basketball player he wants to be. You saw what he did with the monks in China last summer. He worked with Kevin Garnett. He worked with Jamal Crawford. He worked with Hakeem Olajuwon. He wants to be great. I believe this is just the beginning for him.

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‪NBA‬: Wemby in the WCF (Games 1-4): 👽 30.3 PPG 👽 13.3 RPG He joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players in NBA history to average 30+ PPG, and 10+ RPG through their first four NBA Conference Finals games 🤯

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Run It Back: Tim Hardaway Sr. does NOT have LeBron in his top-5 of all-time "MJ, Kobe, Magic, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then you go from there. You got Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal."

Twitter

Oh No He Didn't: Wemby on joining Hakeem on this list: "I had to resort to some things that Hakeem taught me in this 4th quarter...especially that spin fadeaway over Rudy"

x.com

‪Hoop Informatics‬: Victor Wembanyama is the 4th player all-time with 35 PTS, 15 REB & 5 BLK in the NBA playoffs (Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)

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Have you studied Hakeem’s game, and what do you take from it? Baba Oladotun: Yeah, man, my dad showed me a lot of footwork on Hakeem growing up. So a lot of my moves that I make, even on the perimeter and the post, are based on footwork. And Hakeem played soccer, and I played soccer as a kid, so a lot of the Dream Shake, obviously, you guys know that. A lot of up and under, step-throughs, turn-of-faces, all the moves that I got in my bag that are from Hakeem.

HoopsHype

Jorge Sierra: Most blocks per game in NBA playoffs history (on record) Manute Bol: 2.7 Mark Eaton: 2.8 Hakeem Olajuwon: 3.3 VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: 5.6

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