Victor Wembanyama sank the winning free throw to finish with a career-high 52 points as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks 112-111 on Wednesday.

The French star, whose previous best was 50 points in 2024, dominated at both ends of the court to also claim 24 rebounds and eight blocks.

The 22-year-old is the first player in 52 years with at least 50 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks in a game.

He also became the fifth player since 1982 to register at least 50 points and 20 rebounds as San Antonio improved their record to 6-2.

Wembanyama reached half-time with 29 points, 15 rebounds, five blocks and two steals, before the Spurs held off a second-half rally by Dallas, who were led by 29 points from Kyrie Irving.

“I haven’t been feeling great lately,” said Wembanyama. “I’ve been sick for a while.

“Today I felt like I got my legs back, so it should be more like this more often.”

Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 112-106 win over the Detroit Pistons in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference clash.

Brown (30 points) and Embiid (26) led a balanced offensive performance as Philadelphia saw all five starters reach double figures, with LeBron James claiming a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The 76ers now have the NBA’s best record at 8-1 after bringing in Brown and James in the off-season.

“It’s too early to be talking about the Finals and things of that nature,” said James. “We’ll just continue to buy into what we want to do. We got a good team.”

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Sacramento Kings 116-103 with Luka Doncic scoring a game-high 40 points to reach 308 for the season.

The Slovenian star became the first player to pass 300 in his first eight games of a season since Michael Jordan (303) in 1988-89.

Doncic was also involved in an incident which led to a fan being removed after throwing the ball at an official, which struck her as she was signalling a Lakers possession.

Meanwhile, London-born OG Anunoby scored 18 points for the New York Knicks as the reigning champions enjoyed their biggest win of the season, beating the Chicago Bulls 135-105 to improve to 4-4.