San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama put on quite a show in the first quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Wembanyama was a human highlight reel all by himself.
While Wembanyama only played eight minutes in the first quarter, he really put up the points, putting him in the chatter for a player who scored the most points in one quarter in an NBA game.
Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama Scores Lots of Points vs. Lakers
Just how many points did Wembanyama score in the first quarter? A post from Underdog NBA on X spells out the details.
Victor Wembanyama, through 8 minutes of play:
25 PTS
8-9 FG
3-4 3PT
3 REBHe has outscored the Lakers singlehandedly.
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) February 11, 2026
He put up 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and grabbed three rebounds. According to a post on X from Lakers beat reporter Mike Trudell for Spectrum Sports, “Wembanyama checks out at the 4:01 mark with 25 points on 8 of 9 FG’s, with his one miss, a 3, rimming out. LA trail 33-20.”
ESPN Insights’ account on X even added more background to what Wembanyama did on Tuesday night: “Victor Wembanayama scored 25 PTS in the first quarter, the most by a Spur in any quarter in the play-by-play era (since 1997-98).”
On the whole, though, just how did the first quarter go between the Spurs and Lakers? Law Murray of The Athletic offered a pretty complete breakdown of what happened on the court.
End of 1
The Lakers are outscoring Victor Wembanyama 30-25
But overall, Spurs scored 47 American points
Highest scoring quarter of Wemby’s career
Highest scoring 1st quarter of season for Spurs
— Law Murray 🏴☠️ (@LawMurrayTheNU) February 11, 2026
“End of 1,” Murray wrote. “The Lakers are outscoring Victor Wembanyama 30-25 … But overall, Spurs scored 47 American points … Highest scoring quarter of Wemby’s career … Highest scoring 1st quarter of season for Spurs.”
Dan Woike, who covers the Lakers for The Athletic, had more details about Wembanyama’s amazing first-quarter effort. Woike posted on X, “Victor Wembanyama has scored 25 points — tied for 10th most by a player in the 1st quarter during the play-by-play era. He’s played just eight minutes, less than anyone tied or ahead of him on that list.”
With this type of first-quarter points barrage, was Wembenyama even close to setting a new NBA record for most points scored by a player in a single quarter? Well, he was kind of close, but not close enough.
VICTOR WEMBANYAMA IS UNSTOPPABLE 🤯
Wemby scored 17 PTS in a row for the Spurs in the first quarter 😳 pic.twitter.com/soTTfcDPT7
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 11, 2026
Former Golden State Warriors player Klay Thompson, on Jan. 23, 2015, ripped the cords for 37 points in one quarter. That is the record NBA players are shooting for when they start scoring a lot of points in a single quarter. Former Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love is second on the list after putting up 34 points on Nov. 23, 2016, against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Now, Wembanyama has another record to shoot for in his NBA career, but he’s not going to forget what he did in the City of Angels on Tuesday night anytime soon.