SAN ANTONIO — Joan Beringer sat in front of his locker at Frost Bank Center Saturday night, visibly bothered. The Minnesota Timberwolves center had just spent 34 minutes watching Victor Wembanyama score 43 points. The frustration was written on his face.

Filling in for an injured Rudy Gobert, Beringer had been tasked with containing his fellow Frenchman. Instead, Wembanyama shot 17-for-34 from the field, adding seven rebounds, four assists and six blocks to lead the San Antonio Spurs past the Timberwolves, 121-111.

Beringer bore the weight of the loss himself. He felt responsible.

"I couldn't really stop Wemby," Beringer said, asked what was bothering him most about the loss. "I couldn't really stop him ... he's just like so tall. He's just something else."

To Beringer's credit, the 7-foot-4 forward presents a challenge unlike almost any other player in the NBA. But now in the fourth season of his professional career, Wembanyama's height is becoming just one part of an increasingly complicated offensive equation.

Facing Minnesota provided another example. After opening the season shooting 1-for-13 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Wembanyama has gradually found his rhythm, scoring 23, 29, 36 and 43 points in his last four outings, respectively.

His latter three performances were enough to earn him Western Conference Player of the Week honors on Monday. Spurs coach Mitch Johnson gave the Frenchman his flowers.

"We've seen a young man over three-plus years now who has matured physically," Johnson said. "He's matured emotionally ... mentally ... the game's slowing down for him."

Johnson believes progression is common among the NBA's elite, particularly when their physical gifts begin to complement a more advanced understanding of the game. But Wembanyama, has his own explanation for why his offense has become more comfortable.

"The brain knows what kind of game to go towards to have fun," Wembanyama said. "Whenever we don't score, it's like negative feedback. Whenever we score ... it's positive feedback for the brain. Over time, you recognize patterns and you err toward those patterns."

For Wembanyama, those patterns are beginning to take shape. Through six games, he's converted 70 percent of his 67 attempts in the paint, an efficiency mark better than 81 percent of NBA players, according to his shot profile, albeit across a small sample size.

Compared to last season, when Wembanyama shot 47 percent from the left close-range area, his early returns this season suggest he's finding more success closer to the basket, even as other areas remain works in progress — his midrange game chief among them.

De'Aaron Fox, who often runs a short pick-and-roll with Wembanyama, sees considerable value in Wembanyama becoming comfortable taking those closer shots

"It allows him to conserve the energy that he would have to use when you're trying to bump-fade every single time," Fox said. "I just think it becomes an easier shot."

Fox continued, adding that the best players in the NBA, across the world and in the Hall-of-Fame have all leaned on a midrange shot to boost their offensive prowess. For Wembanyama, the point guard believes it can unlock his free-flowing style of play.

"When he can take the easy ones," Fox said, "then we start seeing all the spectacular plays."

Wembanyama hasn't abandoned the spectacular: Twice this season, he's thrown the ball off the backboard to himself for an alley-oop and he's converted a considerable amount of dunks. But he doesn't see either as an attempt to create his own signature shot.

While he refuted the idea that he's against adopting a signature at the risk of becoming predictable — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar still made his skyhook when all five defenders knew it was coming, Wembanyama says — he doubled down on it being naturally-occuring.

"I feel like a signature shot is something you look back on," Wembanyama said, emphasizing that he reads the flow of games to determine which approach will be most effective.

One area of particular emphasis is his back-to-the-basket game. It hasn't been a staple of his offense through three seasons, but Wembanyama has big plans in that department.

"My level of comfort is growing," Wembanyama said when asked about post shot-creation in Austin. "That's the point. I want to make it grow. It's my future of the game, for sure."

Whether those moves eventually become part of his regular arsenal will depend on opportunities; Wembanyama understands that experimenting cannot come at the expense of winning. Until the right moment arrives, moves practiced in private will remain private.

"It's always a challenge to balance individual development and team goals," the 22-year-old said, "because … we're not out there to work on our game. We're here to win games."

That balance is easier to strike when his teammates understand where he wants the ball. Dylan Harper believes the Spurs have improved in that regard, helping Wembanyama establish himself offensively while encouraging him to remain aggressive through mistakes.

"I think we do a great job at kind of putting him in the spots and getting him to his spots," Harper said. "He knows we have the belief in him. Coach said everyone has a belief."

Asked to share how his teammates make his life easier, Wembanyama didn't budge.

"I don't want to say it publicly," he said, "because it will help my opponents."

Wembanyama's individual progress might make him more difficult to defend, but his ability to effectively involve the players around him makes San Antonio's offense more dangerous, especially when he works with his point guards — this season, 31-of-44 assists to Wembanyama have come from Fox and Stephon Castle. Harper makes up another five.

"When he plays with his teammates, it really causes a problem for the other team," Johnson said. "We have a lot of talent, this league has a lot of talent. And the best players in this league, when they play with their teammates, it's damn-near impossible (to stop them)."

Beringer experienced that difficulty firsthand Saturday night. He couldn't stop Wembanyama, even with the benefit of knowing who the Spurs wanted to get the ball to.

In that sense, perhaps the 7-footer is closer to a signature shot that he thinks. But, in his own words, that step in his development will have to come naturally.

"He's just so dominant," Harper said after the Spurs beat the Timberwolves. "When he puts his imprint on the game, he's unstoppable. And he did that tonight from the jump."