Victor Wembanyama Is Forcing an NBA Team to Use Props to Simulate His Abnormally Long Body in Practice

Is the NBA ready for Victor Wembanyama? The Dallas Mavericks are trying to be.

The Mavericks will face the San Antonio Spurs rookie sensation on Wednesday in a preseason matchup. It will be the first time Luka Doncic and the Dallas starters face the 19-year-old French phenom on an NBA court.

At 7-foot-4, with a wingspan of eight feet, Wembanyama holds physical advantages that are hard to come by, even in the NBA. This, combined with his praised skillset, is apparently not something that the Mavericks feel they can use their own players to prepare for.

So they used props.

Mavericks assistant coach God Shamgod, who is only 6-foot-0, was seen wielding padded arm extenders in practice on Saturday, in footage obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

Shamgod used the extenders to block Mavericks players on their jump shots and layups during a shootaround.

If the footage is any indication, the Mavericks are, in fact, not ready for Wembanyama. None of the players involved, including point guard Kyrie Irving, made a single field goal against Shamgod and his extenders.

The only basket in the entire video came when Irving declared that Shamgod had fouled him, and gave himself free throws.

The Spurs drafted Wembanyama with the first overall pick in this year's NBA Draft out of the French basketball league LNB Pro A. His unique build and skillset have led many NBA experts to declaring him to be the best prospect since LeBron James in 2003.

His summer league and preseason debut have already given fans a glimpse at to what he is capable of on a basketball court. Through four preseason games, he's averaged 19.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists. However, those stats have come in limited preseason minutes, as he's only played about 20 minutes per game.

Beyond the numbers, Wembanyama already to together a reel of highlights against NBA veterans in the preseason. He beat Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry on a jump ball and dribbled through the legs of Houston Rockets guard Reggie Bullock.

"I think I don’t want to limit myself to what’s already been done — even this has been done — but I don’t want to limit myself to what’s conventional." I want to expand my game as much as I can and I think that was a good move, an efficient move," Wembanyama told reporters on Friday.