He may be 2.21 meters tall, but he keeps his feet on the ground. The Metropolitans 92 player from Boulogne-Levallois (Mets 92) Victor Wembanyama never stops lighting up the French basketball championship and is now waiting to see how he will be eaten during the traditional Draft lottery. the National Basketball Association (NBA), a selection process for players to join the franchises of the American elite championship, which takes place this Tuesday, May 16.
Adored by supporters, recognized by his peers
During the clash between his club Mets 92 and Bourg-en-Bresse on May 8, the public at the Accor Arena in Paris only had eyes for his prodigy, giving him an unprecedented ovation. . “It’s a phenomenon like we see every ten or fifteen years,” assures Étienne, one of the 15,500 spectators present that day. “We had players like Tony Parker or Boris Diaw who placed France in the world gratin, and now we have Victor. »
To speak of a phenomenon to qualify Victor Wembanyama is an understatement. Elected best hope of the French championship in 2020-2021, with Nanterre, he did it again the following year, within the Villeurbanne club, with which he won his first French championship title in 2022. Year after year, the pivot dazzles. With already more than 60 games in the elite of French basketball, he scored 618 points before his 19th birthday, an absolute record.
Among his fellows, he is also unanimous. “It’s not a unicorn, it’s a UFO”, said American Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James in October 2022. « I think it’s going to be really unique. It has no ceiling”, abounded the Frenchman Rudy Gobert.
“It no longer surprises us to provide so many good players, but Victor will remain a phenomenon! », enthuses Jean-Pierre Siutat, president of the French Basketball Federation (FFBB). “Everything is oversized with him. The size, of course, but also his technicality, his reading of the game, the management of stress… He has everything. »
A boy ahead
The youngest of three siblings, Victor Wembanyama has been immersed in the world of sport from an early age. Son of a former athlete (triple jump) and a former high-level basketball player, the native of Chesnay (Yvelines) will always be outclassed in his categories. Combining sporting discipline and academic requirements, he obtained his baccalaureate at the age of 16, in 2020. The key to success? An unshakable family cocoon. “He is of the same caliber as a Kylian Mbappé in football: intelligent, young, and above all well surrounded”, says a relative who works for him.
“Since the age of 13, he has attracted worldwide attention. Everyone knew it was going to be a star,” abounds Jean-Pierre Siutat. For the leader, his parents were “intelligent enough” to manage this early career. “They made sure to offer him a serene setting,” like his younger handball brother and his older sister, also a professional basketball player at the Mets 92.
An extraordinary destiny awaits him
The arrival in the NBA is a logical continuation for “Wemby”. “I am sure he will succeed,” forecast Jean-Pierre Siutat. “I think he’s going to change the game of basketball. »
Subtract that Victor Wembanyama n’a that 19 ans. “I don’t know if we should get excited about him, moderate Jean-Pierre Siutat, but we have to wish him the best, if onlyfor what it represents: when you see all the emotion he gave during his farewell, it says a lot about his personality, his values”, believes the boss of French basketball. “He wiped away a few tears in the recent win over Nanterre (on May 15) because it was his old club, it was moving to see”, confides a loved one.
Anomaly of nature? Prodigy of a century? A few days from joining the big leagues, in the NBA, the new darling of French basketball seems serene. “I don’t worry about where I’m going to land, it will be in the right place”, he explained to The Team may’s beginning. Supervised throughout the year by Vincent Collet, both coach of the France team and the Mets 92, Victor Wembanyama, who can play in several positions, will also be keen to carry the Blues to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Jean -Pierre Siutat is sure: “It can help write one of the most beautiful pages in the history of French basketball. »
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The NBA Draft, how does it work?
Throughout the season, scouts for American basketball teams travel the world in search of new talent. Organized at the end of the American university year, the NBA Draft lottery introduces an element of chance in the recruitment of these players. Each NBA team initially has two picks, spread over two rounds, to select players from registrants.
To participate, applicants must be over 19 on Daft Day, have been out of high school for over a year, already have professional status, and have been solicited by the NBA. Thirty of them will be chosen in the first round and will have the virtual certainty of obtaining a contract of at least two years in the NBA. The “drafted” players are ranked. Victor Wembanyama is in first position for the post of pivot.
