Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, basketball prodigy at the center of all attention, lost, for his NBA debut, on Wednesday October 26, with the San Antonio Spurs against the Dallas Mavericks (126-119), combining promise and frustration.
Since May, when the Spurs inherited the No. 1 player pick in the draft, San Antonio fans have dreamed of this moment: Wembanyama, on the floor, white tank top emblazoned with the number one, in a room where the players are enthroned. jerseys of Spurs legends, like that of Frenchman Tony Parker.
During the warm-up, “Wemby” sat on a chair for a few seconds, his head down, when all the other players were busy, a little moment of solitude and concentration before his life turned upside down. “Tonight really marks the beginning,” he summed up.
“Maybe I wanted to do too well.”
For his first ball after the jump ball, Wembanyama flew to block a shot from Dallas star point guard Kyrie Irving. A good example of the defensive threat that his size and endless arms bring, for one who is called to “revolutionize” the game of the big orange ball.
After three and a half minutes in the first quarter, the child from Chesnay-Rocquencourt, in the Paris suburbs, scored the first basket of his NBA adventure, three points. Two symbolic actions of its unique combination of size and dexterity. What followed proved frustrating for “Wemby.”
Not always served by his teammates, the Frenchman completely missed his third quarter, where two consecutive offensive fouls sent him to the bench. A fifth immediate foul at the start of the fourth quarter sent him to the bench again, limiting his total playing time to twenty-three minutes (out of forty-eight).
“Maybe I wanted to do too well, I didn’t put my energy into the right things. I don’t need to put so much energy into defense. I’m learning for a first match,” commented the Frenchman at a press conference.
His animal comeback at the end of the match woke up his team and exploded the crowd with nine points in the last period including a furious dunk, for a total of 15 points (5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, but also 5 lost balls ). Not enough for Spurs stunned at the end of the game by the class of Slovenian Luka Doncic who, after being uncertain, started the season with a triple double (33 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists).