His season ends on a good individual note before his real big debut in the prestigious NBA championship in October. Despite his team’s defeat (85-80), French basketball player Victor Wenbanyama, chosen number one by the San Antonio Spurs in the recent draft, lit up the disputed Summer League meeting on Sunday July 9 in Las Vegas against Portland.

With 27 points on the clock, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks in twenty-seven minutes, the 19-year-old French interior, black jersey, name and number 1 flocked in white on the back, raised the bar after a first performance with the franchise lackluster Texas, a few days earlier.

Freed from accumulated pressure all season, especially since his arrival in the world of the NBA, the Spurs player corrected the target on shots with a nice 9 out of 14, much sharper than the 2 out of 13 made on Friday.

A symbol share

This somewhat disappointing performance had raised some questions about its future adaptation. “I felt lost on the floor,” conceded the tricolor prodigy.

Sunday, on the other hand, he convinced everyone. Some inaccuracies remained in the first quarter, within a weak Spurs team, but the Frenchman made the choice to approach the basket, with authority.

At the start of the third quarter, an action symbolized the player’s overflowing activity on Sunday: missed shot, offensive rebound, close shot, basket with the bonus foul. The desire was there, the smiles also from the thousands of spectators in the Thomas and Mack Center room.

“Really need a rest”

On Saturday, during a communication operation with the legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (best player in the league six times in the 1970s and 1980s), the interior had mentioned this delicate adaptation. “I’m just a rookie [“beginner”], I still have to learn everything. I didn’t really know what I was doing [in the first game], and the next games I probably won’t know either… It will come with time,” Wembanyama said, also recalling his young age: “I’m like a kid right now, but I’m ready to learn. »

“You have things to learn, but we feel that you are an intelligent young man, and you will get there”, had abounded the former pivot to the six championship titles, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who must have appreciated the performance of the Frenchman, Sunday.

Victor Wembanyama will continue to work this summer and breathe, too. “I feel like I really need a rest,” he said Friday. His season is probably finally over, since he refused to participate in the World Cup with the Blues. Now up to the NBA: “For me the real first, it will be in October”, projected the most anticipated player of next season.

The signal sent by Spurs with the extension of legendary coach Gregg Popovich for the next five years has been received. “It’s a sign from him and the franchise that they are counting on this project,” the prodigy said on Sunday.