EFrenchman Victor Wembanyama, who is about to turn 19 and is considered one of the prodigies of world basketball, said that in 2018 he did not sign for Barcelona because the coaches of that club did not draw attention to his defects.
“It is true that this was one of the reasons, but there were others. I love to progress and I need to face challenges, I like to be told things clearly, even if that is unpleasant to hear,” he said in an interview published this Tuesday in Le Parisien, when asked about the reasons why he did not sign for Bara.
At 2.21 meters tall and with unusual coordination, the forward from the French club Metropolitans 92 starts as the favorite to be the number 1 in the NBA Draft in six months and has left basketball legends like LeBron James speechless. .
“I think about it every morning (being the first in the Draft). Does that make me dizzy? No, it’s something rather stimulating,” said “Wemby”, who has Congolese roots and whose parents were also athletes.
The player assured that he did not have a predilection for a specific NBA franchise and expressed his surprise that certain teams could lose in order to be more likely to hire him.
Lose to have more options to sign him
“It’s a strange strategy, I try not to think about it too much. I also heard that the NBA considered changing the rules for cases like mine, but that doesn’t go with me,” he said.
He said that he likes to wear the “32” in the French team in tribute to Magic Johnson and the “1” in the Metropolitans because he always seeks to be “number 1”.
A native of Le Chesnay, a town southwest of Paris, he highlighted the positive role his parents have in his career.
“I don’t know how many young talents have seen their career go down the drain because of a very bad environment, because of parents who wanted to live their dreams through their children. I have been lucky to be well surrounded, to have received a wonderful education “, indicated.
