Victor Wembanyama nearly reached the fourth quarter before making a basket. Opening night had given him a stage. Oklahoma City spent the evening removing the floorboards.

He missed his first 12 shots in Tuesday’s loss to the Thunder and finished shooting a career-worst 8%. Every successive attempt made the wait its own spectacle. A player who can make the court look undersized was struggling to find anything on it that would cooperate.

The NBA’s commercial proposition depends heavily on individual stars. The opposing defence gets an unusually public opportunity to vandalise the advertisement. Oklahoma City delivered both halves of that bargain: Wembanyama supplied the attraction, the Thunder supplied the basketball.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the winners. Across the opening-night bill, LeBron James made a winning Philadelphia debut against the Knicks, giving Sixers fans the celebration their new arrival promised. San Antonio’s audience got the considerably less comfortable experience of watching its star keep trying.

Wembanyama finally scored near the end of the third quarter. His first basket had become an event. Oklahoma City had made him wait almost an entire evening to produce a highlight.