2023-05-17 08:28:21
The greatest talent since LeBron James: Victor Wembanyama has captured the imagination and hopes of NBA executives and fans in recent months like no basketball player has in 20 years – and will in all likelihood make his NBA debut with the San Antonio Spurs . No one has doubted that since the Spurs were given the right to the first so-called pick in the NBA draft on June 22 in the lottery on Tuesday evening in Chicago.
So the 19-year-old Frenchman will become a Texan like his famous compatriot Tony Parker – and he likes the prospect. “I love Texas, I’ve been there before,” he reported, following the procedure that was so important for his career in the middle of the night from Paris. “You’re getting a team player. I’m going to do everything I can to win as many games as possible. I want to win a ring as soon as possible. Be ready,” he told ESPN. Rings are for championships in the NBA.
Hours earlier he had scored 22 points for the Metropolitans 92 in the last main round game and secured the scoring title in the French league. In the audience in the small hall, French stars also wanted to see one of his last games before starting a career in the best basketball league in the world: actor Omar Sy (“Pretty Best Friends”) and ex-soccer world champion Kylian Mbappé.
To ensure equal opportunities, there is a system in the NBA that weaker teams can access the talent registered for the draft earlier than better teams. The top positions will be raffled among the teams that didn’t make the play-offs – with the best chances for the weakest teams. The Spurs had a record of 22 wins and 60 losses in the main round. Nobody was worse. But with Wembanyama – also known as “generational talent” in the US media – the Spurs are immediately a play-off team once more according to experts and have good chances of winning the sixth championship with legendary coach Gregg Popovich on the sidelines in the coming years .
This is exactly what Wembanyama wants to achieve and enable. Only a crazy swap offer on an unprecedented scale or a serious injury in the French play-offs might prevent his trip to San Antonio for the training camps that begin in July. Wembanyama’s signing alone might add $500 million to Spurs’ value, according to an unnamed team president in an ESPN report.
What makes him so extraordinary that even LeBron James – himself called King James or “Chosen One” – calls him an “alien” with the utmost respect? He combines qualities and abilities that don’t normally belong together. “He’s unique. He has the size, the skills, can dribble, can throw. In the end, we’ve never seen him the way he is,” said national team captain Dennis Schröder of the German Press Agency in the run-up to the draft lottery. Wembanyama is 2.18 m tall and has a larger arm span than Giannis Antetokounmpo. He can throw from half positions like Kevin Durant. And he has the ball feel and eye of a point guard.
The chance of “Wemby”, as he is also known, made Peter J. Holt, one of the Spurs’ co-owners, rejoice. He jumped up on stage with a loud yell and banged his podium on Tuesday when it was clear that his organization would be the first to select and secure the services of Wembanyama. “Our future was already bright,” he said. “Now she’s going through the roof.”
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