NBA: Victor Wembanyama scores 50 points in San Antonio victory

Victor Wembanyama became the fourth-youngest player to score 50 points in an NBA game as he led the San Antonio Spurs to a 139-130 win over the Washington Wizards.

The three players who scored 50 points at a younger age than the 20-year-old Frenchman were Brandon Jennings, LeBron James and Devin Booker, all of whom were also aged 20.

The Spurs centre, whose previous high score was 40, notched up his 50-point total in just 26 minutes, and he also had eight three-pointers, another career milestone.

"I'd love to tell you that you wake up a certain way or you feel really smooth during warm-ups, but at the end of the day, in NBA games we got one game every other day," said Wenbanyama, the first overall pick in last year's draft.

"So every time we struggle to warm up, we have pain, you know, we sweat, we bleed on the court, so it's really a minute-to-minute thing, it comes to 48 minutes every game."

It was the third straight game in which Wembanyama hit six-plus three-pointers.

The Spurs again won without head coach Gregg Popovich after they announced on Wednesday that the 75-year-old had suffered a mild stroke earlier this month but was expected to make a full recovery.

The game was level at the break (67-67) but the Spurs ended the third quarter with a 23-6 run which put them 108-91 up and although the Wizards cut the lead to five points late on, they ran out of time.

Devin Vassell added 17 points for the Spurs while Julian Champagnie had 12 and Harrison Barnes, Stephon Castle and Blake Wesley finished with 10 apiece.