The NBA's new face is here and he is unlike anything we've ever seen

Victor Wembanyama is the new face of the NBA, and he's on the league's biggest stage in these Finals. (Getty Images: Christian Petersen)

If you've been following the NBA closely over the past decade, then you'll know of the league's quiet problem.

It has been creeping up year after year like the monster behind the hero in a horror movie — seemingly invisible yet unshakably present.

The problem is who exactly the NBA's next face is going to be.

LeBron James has proudly carried that mantle for the best part of the last two decades, but at 41, he is on the verge of his curtain call.

During last year's NBA Finals, Wembanyama (left) joined LeBron James (right) on a panel in New York. (Getty Images: Slaven Vlasic)

For years, the NBA has been searching for which one of Generation Next is ready to take over.

Several young stars have been touted and tried; none have been quite as ready as James was when he took the baton all those years ago.

The search is now over because Victor Wembanyama is here. Not just here in the league, but here ready to take over.

Every couple of years, the NBA throws up a Finals match-up that feels a little bigger than just one series.

These sorts of series usually shift the direction of the entire league; they impact legacies, both positively and negatively.

There are a few different ingredients that throw up this type of epic Finals.

You've either got a match-up of two historic franchises; think Lakers–Celtics.

Then you might have a series where two generational players go head-to-head. James's battles with Stephen Curry between 2015 and 2018 were instantly the stuff of legend.

Wembanyama's run to the Finals at 22 has sparked memories of James's (pictured) Finals debut at the same age in 2007. (Getty Images: Bob Leverone/Sporting News)

Finally, you have the arrival series where a generational superstar first touches the game's biggest stage.

As the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks gear up to face each other in this year's Finals, you get the sense that these Finals are poised to be one of those series.

Whether you are a fan of either team or just a general observer, Wembanyama is central to everything that will take place over the next few weeks.

Like James before his arrival in 2003, Wembanyama is someone basketball fans have been well aware of before he ever set foot on an NBA court.

Wembanyama first hit the basketball mainstream in 2020, when, amid lockdowns across the world, NBA draft expert Mike Schmitz posted a video of the then-16-year-old going one-on-one with Rudy Gobert.

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