I've decided to look into Wembanyama a little bit, because I'm curious how his career might look when all's said and done.
There are 27 players (currently including him) that have played in the NBA that are at least 7 foot 3 or taller.
- Gheorghe Muresan
- Manute Bol
- Tacko Fall
- Slavko Vranes
- Shawn Bradley
- Yao Ming
- Chuck Nevitt
- Pavel Podkolzin
- Sim Bhullar
- Victor Wembanyama (yet to play his first official NBA game)
- Mark Eaton
- Rik Smits
- Ralph Sampson
- Boban Marjanovic
- Priest Lauderdale
- Peter John Ramos
- Randy Breuer
- Zydrunas Ilgauskas
- Arvydas Sabonis
- Hasheem Thabeet
- Swede Halbrook
- Keith Closs
- Ha Seung-Jin
- Aleksandar Radojevic
- Walter Tavares
- Tibor Pleiß
- Kristaps Porzingis
Beyond the fact that most of these guys have names that need dictionaries, most don't have storied NBA careers.
And the few who did have anything of note: Injuries were always smack dab in the middle. 10 guys who played at least 400 games. Most of these guys have missed 85% of a season at some point, even multiple times. None have played past 12 seasons of basketball. And the guy who played the most games, Mark Eaton, was healthy for his first 10 years, but back injuries also derailed his career in the end.
This tells me that while basketball is a sport for tall people, an athlete's body can only take so much at such an extreme height.
I hope Wembanyama can make his mark, but the numbers are against him in terms of hall of fame potential. Guys like Yao and Sabonis made the hall of fame because of the legacies made in their home countries, while Sampson's was based on his college accolades (the first few years didn't hurt either).
Good luck...