Wembanyama stumbles in first steps at Summer League, sees it as learning experience.

LAS VEGAS — The Hornets’ No. 2 pick, Brandon Miller, struggled in his first two Summer League games in Sacramento. His shot didn’t fall, he turned the ball over, he got in foul trouble, he wasn’t aggressive, and NBA Twitter was its usual unforgiving self. However, on Friday night, in his third Summer League game, Miller scored 16 points, and had some impressive moments, taking a step forward.

That’s what Summer League is for — growth. It’s first steps.

Victor Wembanyama stumbled with his first steps in a Spurs uniform Friday night.

In a Summer League game against Miller and the Hornets, Wembanyama shot 2-of-13, looked out of sync with teammates he’d spent little practice time with, and was passive because of it, for example not taking one shot in the entire third quarter.

“Really, really special to wear that jersey for the first time. It’s really an honor,” Wembanyama said of his Spurs debut. “And overall, I’m glad we won this game...

“Yeah, honestly, I didn’t really know what I was doing on the court tonight but I was trying to learn for the next games.”

That was the Spurs postgame theme — Wembanyama had been thrown into an impossible situation and what matters is how he grows from it. The rest of the roster had been in Sacramento for two Summer League games at the California Classic, had experience in the offense and with each other, and Wembanyama was thrown into the rotation with no practice time with the guys or in the system.

“Part of that too is just understanding the offense he’s running, which he hasn’t run before, on top of him playing with new teammates,” Spurs Summer League coach Matt Nielsen said.

Still, Wembanyama’s night was cringe-worthy at points.

This did not feel anywhere close to a normal Summer League game — the Thomas & Mack Center was sold out with 17,500 people there to see the future face of the league make his debut, and they wanted to cheer him, they were ready to explode.

They never got the chance.

The growing frustration with the crowd not to see a breakout night — as Scoot Henderson had done in the previous game, before he tweaked his shoulder — grew as the game went on. It was palpable in the arena.

There were positives. The expected one was his defense around the rim (poster dunk notwithstanding) — when he was in the right position he impacted shooters trying to get to the rim and he had five blocks. One of those was on a Brandon Miller 3-pointers.

Another positive was his passing — Wembanyama was a willing and gifted passer who kept finding the open man. He made good reads and found open teammates (Wembanyama would have more assists but he wasn’t the only Spur struggling with his shot on the night).

It’s been a long couple of days for him in Las Vegas — both on and off the court — and there’s a lot of work for Wembanyama to do. When asked what he needed to focus on most this summer, he went back to the basics.

“I think there’s a lot of conditioning to do, to be able to play in an 82-game season,” Wembanyama said. “And especially with [the Spurs] style, you know, we run a lot so it’s really exhausting. Even though it was only 40 minutes tonight, when I came out, when I sat down, I was always tired and exhausted. So I think there’s a lot of conditioning to do.”

The Spurs play again on Sunday night against Henderson and the Trail Blazers, and both Wembanyama and Henderson are expected to play (although at Summer League, that is never a given). What matters in that game is what kind of step forward Wembanyama takes, what he learned in his first game he can apply to the next one.

But for the next couple of days, he may want to limit his social media screen time.