She is to San Antonio what Elizabeth II was to the United Kingdom. Eternal Queen of AT
Wearing a sombrero in the black and white colors of the Spurs, adorned with a gigantic basket, she entirely made her gala outfit, down to her two watches and her boots bearing the image of the French nugget. “Victor will be my second love after my Tony Parker. I hope he’ll give me a few hugs when I’m on the sidelines. Well, we are more than 50 years apart but, after all, these are only numbers, “she laughs with the Spurs number one, already flocked “Wembanyama”, on the shoulders.
If all of San Antonio is already crazy about the 19-year-old French nugget even before his NBA debut, it’s because Wemby is a unique player with insane and almost supernatural talent. The Spurs, a flagship franchise of the first fifteen years of the century but weaned from the play-off for four years, seem to be the ideal destination for the debut of the little prodigy of French basketball (2.21 m) in the Association. Accustomed to welcoming and developing European talent, the Spurs team naturally has a lot of ambitions with this XXXL reinforcement.
The first Frenchman drafted in first position and a worthy heir to Tony Parker and Boris Diaw at Spurs, Victor Wembanyama is also presented as the “new god of San Antonio” by his most fervent believers. This wembamania, already impressive this season in the four corners of France, reached its climax during this draft. Even in 1987 with David Robinson and 1997 with Tim Duncan, when the Spurs also had the first draft picks, the expectation was not as insane as it is today. Almost five hours before the start of the event, Lupe Salazar and her two children were having fun zigzagging and twirling their ‘Go Spurs Go’ flag hanging from the back of their 4×4. “We already love Wembanyama , because we are sure that he will bring us a new trophy, “hopes this father, pointing to the five Spurs NBA champion trophies (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014), tattooed on his right arm.
Hardly had the doors of the mythical San Antonio Spurs lair opened, than the first lucky ones gathered around the field at the stroke of 5:15 p.m., to follow the live broadcast of the event, which took place on the side of New York. The AT
The clock is ticking, the minutes are hot and everyone dreams of speeding up time. “It’s too long, we can’t wait any longer”, impatiently two young friends, phones in hand to immortalize the moment in the front row, while Adam Silver – boss of the discipline – makes the suspense several thousand kilometers away. The commissioner of the NBA ends up advancing in the center of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, takes a little inspiration and delivers, finally, a whole people with this usual little sentence but so historic for French basketball: “With the first pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs selects: Victor Wembanyama! »
“It’s great, it’s the best day of my life,” marvels Alek Wilson, a young Spurs fan, barely of age and in love, like the rest of the Spurs family, with the Wembanyama phenomenon. “I almost want to cry. Tears in his eyes, Victor Wembanyama really has them. Interviewed by ESPN just after his draft, the native of Chesnay (Yvelines) is overwhelmed by emotion. “It’s an indescribable feeling,” he said, wiping his eyes. I had a lump in my stomach before Adam Silver called me. It’s the first big accomplishment of my life, even if I don’t realize yet that I’m an NBA player. »
While an army of phones is aimed at the giant screen of the AT
The jerseys gone in a snap of the fingers, the AT
