Victor Wembanyama, who should be selected, Thursday, June 22 in New York, number one in the NBA draft – the North American professional basketball championship -, signed autographs for fans who were waiting for him on his arrival at the Newark Airport, New Jersey, Monday.
No sooner had he set foot on American soil – he was traveling from France – than dozens of supporters, some dressed in the jersey of the San Antonion Spurs – the franchise which obtained the right to draft him – handed him basketballs, jerseys and collectibles for him to put his signature on. Which he did patiently, with a smile.
“I don’t know how they knew what flight I was on,” Victor Wembanyama said in a video released by the NBA on social media. It’s fun to see that you can have such an impact on people. »
The 19-year-old prodigy, the world’s greatest basketball prospect at 2.24 meters tall, should therefore be selected by the San Antonio Spurs in three days, a team with which he will make his debut in the highest league in the world. world in October.
Soon with the Spurs jersey in the Summer League?
An out-of-this-world player – his dimensions make him an interior, but he has the fluidity of a much smaller player – the 19-year-old French international has captured the attention of NBA scouts for years (he has started playing pro at the age of 15). And the first place in the draft had been assured to him for a long time.
Victor Wembanyama will speak, along with a number of draft candidates, on Wednesday in New York during a press briefing, on the eve of the big night. Unless there is an unlikely turnaround, he will be chosen Thursday evening by the Spurs in first position and he will then fly to San Antonio where a press presentation is scheduled for Saturday.
He could then wear the jersey of the franchise from the Summer League, an NBA pre-season competition, organized both in Sacramento (California) from July 3 to July 5 and in Las Vegas (Nevada), from July 8 to July 14th.
But his participation is still debated within the Texas franchise. The interior could be put to rest after a grueling Betclic Elite season, lost in the finals, and the Basketball World Cup which will take place in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines from August 25 to September 10. Victor Wembanyama should wear the blue jersey in Asia, a few weeks before the start of the NBA championship season.