Luke Kornet delivered the biggest play of his San Antonio Spurs career on Saturday night in Oklahoma City, as the 28‑year‑old back-up centre stepped in for foul-troubled Victor Wembanyama and produced a Game 7 chasedown block that drew joking comparisons to LeBron James.
Kornet has spent most of this season in the long shadow of Wembanyama, the 20-year-old phenom who has transformed the Spurs into one of the NBA's most closely watched projects. Whenever the French star sits, the task of protecting the rim and holding the fort falls to Kornet, an undrafted journeyman who only secured his long-term deal in San Antonio last summer. It is steady, unspectacular work. On Saturday, for a few seconds, it wasn't.
