Unsurprisingly, the Frenchman Victor Wembanyama was chosen Thursday, June 23 in first position by the San Antonio Spurs, during the NBA draft. This is a historic first for a French player. He thus succeeds legends David Robinson and Tim Duncan, both also chosen first by the Texas franchise, respectively in 1987 and 1997. This is a new page in the history of French basketball, and perhaps of the NBA. , which was written when “Wemby”, his nickname, took to the podium to shake hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
The 19-year-old international is considered the biggest potential in world basketball since LeBron James, drafted twenty years ago, almost to the day. After the traditional handshake, the French prodigy wore a cap bearing the image of the silver spur, which serves as the logo of the Texas franchise. A gesture that had already made, twenty-two years earlier, a certain Tony Parker, who left an immense mark in the history of Spurs, with four rings of champions at the key (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) .
Victor Wembanyama joins the great Spurs family, a franchise which has built, around coach Gregg Popovich, a culture of winning and intelligent play, which has become a benchmark in the NBA and around the world. San Antonio will nevertheless need its new number one to straighten its recent sporting trajectory, marked by four seasons without the playoffs.
Dressed in an elegant dark green double-breasted suit, cinched in the back by a ribbon, the former Nanterre and Boulogne-Levallois player appeared very relaxed before the start of the ceremony. All smiles, he, on his own initiative, signed autographs, notably on a ball thrown by a fan from the stands, to the enthusiastic cries of clusters of fans. Even before the official selection by San Antonio, spectators were already wearing a Spurs jersey, hit with the number one, the one he wore at Boulogne-Levallois last season.
Now officially entered the NBA on Thursday, Victor Wembanyama must fly to San Antonio on Friday, before an official presentation on Saturday. He should then quickly put on, for the first time, the Spurs tunic, well before the start of the next NBA season, at the end of October. He is, in fact, expected at the Summer Leagues, the summer leagues traditionally dedicated to young neophytes, as well as to veterans looking for a contract.
“I’m sure I’m going to play the Summer League” in early July, he said Wednesday, without specifying whether he would take part in Sacramento (July 3 and 5), Las Vegas (July 7-17 ), or both. One thing is certain, Wembanyama will “surely not play every game, because I had a long season before, and I have something after”, he added, as his French campaign did not falter. is completed only on June 15.
Fond of foreign players for more than twenty years, the Spurs do not traditionally stand in the way of those wishing to represent their country in international competition.
