The San Antonio Spurs should watch Team France closely during the Olympics, as they may get some ideas about who to put next to Victor Wembanyama.

Victor WembanyamaVictor Wembanyama / SUZANNE CORDEIRO/GettyImages

The no-longer-a-rookie sensation continues to make waves in the offseason. Victor Wembanyama’s greatness and versatility are impacting the French National Team as they gear up for the Olympics. Unfortunately for the center, Moustapha Fall, a French hooper who had previously represented France in national competition, was excluded due to Victor’s presence.

But roster construction is everything when going for the gold and France has some grand ideas about what they want to do with their roster. Initially, the plan was to play Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert and Victor on the floor at the same time. In that lineup, Wembanyama would have to play small forward since he has the most agility among the three, and what a sight that would have been.

Embiid sank that possibility when he declared for the United States team, but there’s still something that can be taken from what the French National Team’s head coach, Vincent Collet, has to work with.

Spurs get to observe a Wembanyama experiment for free

At the beginning of last season, the Spurs rolled the French phenom out at power forward alongside Zach Collins. (Sorry to dredge up bad memories for the Spurs faithful but it’s necessary for this conversation.) It did not go well, and while part of that was due to the poor spacing from bad shooting across the board, the defense wasn’t working well either. San Antonio now gets to see what Wembanyama will look like with an elite defensive big man beside him at center.

Collins did his best but he is a far cry from four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Regardless of whether Spurs fans believe Gobert should have won the award or not, his value on that end can’t be denied. The front office doesn’t have to dedicate any resources to observe how France uses the pair. The experiment could either encourage or shut down any further consideration to put a center next to The Alien who can’t shoot.