CHICAGO — Victor Wembanyama saw an open lane and a gap shrinking by the second.

Taking the biggest strides he could, the San Antonio Spurs' star received a pass from Keldon Johnson just past the 3-point line. In two steps, he'd reached the free throw line. With Luke Kennard and Collin Gillespie on either side of him, he went for a finger-roll layup.

"I didn't want these guys to get into my legs," Wembanyama explained after the Spurs' 122-96 rout of the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center. "I figured, since (the gap) was too small, I would just have them meet me in the air if they wanted to. But they didn't."

The shot worked. And even if it hadn't, Wembanyama's backup plan was to rebound his own miss, at which point he'd either have gone back to the free throw line — he finished 8-of-10 from the stripe on Monday — or found another way to put San Antonio up by 22 points.

Not much was slowing him down in Phoenix. To add insult to injury, Wembanyama recorded his third 40-plus-point outing of the season in 25 minutes. He sat the game's final nine.

“He does it from all three levels," Suns coach Jordan Ott said of facing Wembanyama, making a more candid admission than most. "Anytime he has a switch on him, they literally throw the ball to the top of the backboard ... it’s just so deflating and it’s really hard to overcome.”

When Wembanyama headed to the bench for the final time, he'd logged 40 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks on 15-for-19 shooting from the field. He didn't need to say much to admit he was aware of the beatdown his Spurs dished out to earn their ninth straight win.

"When you sit the fourth quarter, or most of the fourth quarter," he said with a slight smile, "that's usually a great sign. I mean, it could not be. But, usually, it's a great sign."

Since beginning the season 0-2, Wembanyama has been in the business of problem solving. He's no stranger to slow starts, but this season presented an extra challenge as he learned to exist and lead an offense next to three point guards and a shooting guard.

All five of those players have made clear things aren't as simple as — to use Ott's words — throwing the ball to the top of the backboard, but Monday night challenged that principle. The Spurs outscored the Suns by 30 points with Wembanyama on the floor, and 12 of his 15 makes came from within the restricted area.

To that end, Wembanyama didn't have to work too hard to find his points. The Suns were unable to force him away from the rim and, frankly, failed to give him a problem to solve.

He also made a conscious choice to keep his evening simple.

"He's allowing the game to unfold naturally," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "He's doing a great job of putting himself in positions to take advantage of the opportunities in front of him ... and his teammates are doing a good job of utilizing him when appropriate."

Added Wembanyama: "I (get the sense) that opponents can't really put me in a situation where I cannot do the answer. So, now all I have to do is not beat myself."

Wembanyama smirked after his seventh block of the evening — he threw his hands up as if to ask Ryan Dunn why he felt an underhanded driving layup would work on him — and several times simply waited for his teammates to notice he was facing a mismatch at the rim.

At one point in his career, Wembanyama might have felt the need to make things more complicated. He may not have waited patiently. But entering Year 4, he's committed to it. Even one of the smoothest Spurs, Dylan Harper, notices how slow Wembanyama takes it.

"I think it's natural," the guard said. "Once you're in the setting for so long, you see these guys ... things start to slow down. But his game is probably very slow compared to mine."

Asked to find a new way to describe Wembanyama's abilities, Harper instead solicited the reporter: "How would you describe it?" he queried. The reporter offered one word: "Great."

"There you go," Harper concluded. "We're going to go with that, then."

It didn't take three 40-point outings in his last six games for Wembanyama to prove to the Spurs what they already knew. But 10 games in, he's showing a new version of himself.

The 7-footer is finding the rim more often — he currently leads the league in dunks, alley-oops and blocks and has more dunks this season than 23 teams combined — and he's been a more frequent visitor of the free throw line as he invites, and seeks out, more contact.

"His maturity and understanding of the decision-making ... is of the utmost importance," Johnson said. "Because his teammates, a lot of times, are going to do something differently based on what he's going to do. That harmony and rhythm ... is really important."

As Johnson explained, a system is best when based upon the skill sets of its best pieces. It's why the Spurs can afford to play with pace; they're deadly in transition. It's why they can be aggressive on defense on the perimeter, knowing Wembanyama is lurking.

This season, it's why the rim has become their most useful tool. And nothing has changed to make that the case other than another year of experience and more maturity.

"I'm not doing anything I wasn't able to do, physically ... 12 months ago," Wembanyama said. "As the years go on and my conditioning gets better, it allows me to keep developing on both sides ... we talk about my offense, but I think my defense is better than last year, as well."

Wembanyama says he'll keep trying to find a balance between the "physically amazing" and the simple, too. A 25-minute sample size in Phoenix says he's already got a handle on it. If that's the case, the Suns — and most teams — will likely struggle to guard him all year.

Johnson, having already fielded a slew of questions about his star, was asked on Monday if Wembanyama looks to have more control over his body. A free-throw-line finger roll that took four steps to develop could have certainly been used as evidence of that.

"I'm not sure I can answer that," Johnson said instead. "I would think so, but I can't prove it."

He may not need to. Wembanyama will show it again.