Victor Wembanyama has long been talked about as the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, almost ever since he was a 15-year-old.
At 16 years old, experts on young talent already considered him “the best project in the world regardless of his age”.
Now, at 18, the noise is already rumbling. And even more so after the two games he has played on US soil.
Against the Ignite project of the G League, where Scoot Hendersonanother hopeful for the top of the draft, plays, he has averaged 36.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks with a 9/18 in three-pointers and a variety of resources and movements that have amazed the basketball planet and make him the most impressive rookie since LeBron James.
The French prodigy has followed a plan to get to the number one spot that everyone predicts for him, but it would have been impossible without a mind-blowing shape: 2.20 meters tall, 2.31 wingspan, 94 kilos…
Wembanyama, during training in the United States.
His mother played basketball for the Stade Franais and guided his first steps in basketball, which he decided on after trying judo and as a soccer goalkeeper.
His father was a long jumper, reaching a personal best of 7.41 meters. His sister Eve won gold in a U16 Eurobasket and his brother Oscar plays handball.
He played the Minicopa with Barcelona
But genes without work are of little use. Wembanyama, born in a village near Versailles, honed his talent at Nanterre 92 under Pascal Donnadieu.
He became the second youngest player to debut in the Eurocup, but combined the first team with Pole France of the Nationale Masculine 1, where he was performing well.
Before that, in 2018, he tried out for Barcelona in the Gran Canaria Minicopa, won by Real Madrid with Eli John Ndiaye, now in the first team, as MVP.
In 2021, Victor turned his career around by signing for ASVEL Villeurbanne chaired by Tony Parker.
He arrived in the Euroleague, where he left some signs of his condition despite playing little.
In only 13 games he averaged 6.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 5.5 valuation and mediocre percentages: 37.3% in two-point shots, 30.3% in three-pointers and 66.7% in free throws.
Everything indicates that it will be a long time before we see him again in Europe’s top competition, if at all.
Wembanyama, con el Barcelona en la Minicopa de 2018. ACB PHOTO
He will leave for the NBA and he will hope to become a star in the United States, following the latest examples Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpowho have shared the last four MVP of the competition.
An ideal team to work with and show off
Last summer Wembanyama left ASVEL for the more modest Metropolitans 92, which does not even play European competition.
It may sound strange, but it was part of his plan: a smaller team, with a greater ability to show off and put up numbers, with less game load, more time for individual work, under the command of French coach Vincent Collet, and with the possibility of a tour of the United States in which he has finished shoring up his number one draft pick.
There he won the individual duel with Scoot Hendersonthe only one who could shadow him.
“He’s a great player. If I hadn’t been born, he could be number one,” he said, showing his bravado in his first press conference in America.
Last year he also emerged victorious from a showdown with Chet Holmgramsecond overall in the last draft and another youngster called to great heights in the NBA.
They met in the final of the U19 World Cup and the United States won 83-81, but Wembanyama finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, eight blocks and 30 valuations.
The two share a thin and seemingly fragile physique, but the American will miss his first season due to injury. He may be the only threat of the two.
Everyone has labeled him a unicorn, but he’s an alien. I’ve never seen anyone as tall as him play so fluidly and elegantly.
The Frenchman’s two games in the United States have been the epicenter of the NBA these days and the preseason has been in the background.
In the stands you can see representatives of all the franchises and stars of the league who did not want to miss the opportunity to see the prodigy.
“Everyone has labeled him a unicorn, but he’s an alien,” analyzed LeBron James.
“I’ve never seen anyone as tall as him who plays so fluidly and elegantly. No one has ever seen that.”
With all that, the NBA is now facing a problem: tanking, letting yourself lose to have more options to pick in the first place of the draft.
It has been in the past, but now the interest in having a generational player can turn the season into a madness of defeats, dubious injuries, and difficult to justify breaks…
Wembanyama trata de colocar un tapn.
“It looks like it will start a race to the abyss like we’ve never seen before,” assures the general manager of one franchise.
It is estimated that the value of the team that gets Wembanyama will increase by $500 million just by drafting him first overall on draft night.
It will be the consummation of the plan of the unicorn, the alien or whichever nickname you want to use for him, and it will also be the beginning of an era in the NBA.
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