A major reporter specializing in basketball since 2010, and author of the book “Wembanyama “I just want to be me”” (Solar), Yann Ohnona followed the new basketball UFO over his last two seasons in the French championship and even accompanied to the United States for the Draft. While the man we nicknamed Wemby plays his first NBA match on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, Yann Ohnona gives us Victor Wembanyama’s career path.
When did you first hear about him?
It’s been a very long time. The name “Wembanyama”, in the world that really follows basketball, started to be around when he was 11 or 12 years old (editor’s note: he will be 20 next January). Personally, it must have been around his 13/14th birthday. I didn’t know who he was, if it was serious, but his name was circulating. But my job as a journalist at L’Équipe cannot be to follow 13 or 14 year old children. We have too much work in the professional world. On the other hand, in the United States, they already knew that a 13-year-old player had extraordinary talent in Nanterre thanks to their scout networks in Europe.
As soon as a child is in the fold of a club with a professional section, his name filters through. In the book, Frédéric Donnadieu, one of his first coaches at Nanterre and today president of the club, tells me that he had to go and calm down Mike Schmitz, the young talent specialist for ESPN, who was in the process of make a video of Wembanyama during a U15 match. Donnadieu didn’t know it was Mike Schmitz.
You have already been to the United States several times to follow Victor Wembanyama. To what extent Wembamania took it across the Atlantic?
It took as much as in France and probably much more. There, basketball is a national activity, just like American football. Professional sport emanates so much influence that when a young talent is on the rise, we follow him very closely. In France, there was the phenomenon only in the last year. With the Mets 92 of Boulogne-Levallois, he went to Las Vegas at the start of the season (editor’s note: 2022-2023), to play two exhibition matches against the G League Ignite (editor’s note: selection of the American League composed of developing players). While in France, there was not yet a craze around him, there, 200 representatives of NBA teams were on site to watch his matches. Crazy! It’s unimaginable ! It’s as if all the sports directors and coaches in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 football stopped everything they were doing in their lives to go see two friendly matches of a 17-year-old player. It was only upon his return that France understood that he was really expected in the United States and it really exploded.
How did you find his preseason games?
They are exactly what we expect. Despite all the people who automatically raised doubts, like an injury or the fact that he hadn’t played an NBA game yet. Personally, I had absolutely no doubt that Victor Wembanyama was going to adapt to the NBA seamlessly. The preseason matches confirmed it, even if there is not yet a lot of competitiveness. Victor Wembanyama is the most anticipated player. Nobody wants to take 20 points from him, so there is already defense and attention around him. He does things that we have never seen on the field thanks to his technical abilities, which, compared to his size, are a unique and unprecedented alloy in this sport. On the other hand, winning collectively is another story. Today, nothing says that the Spurs will compete in the playoffs this year.
[Vidéo] Victor Wembanyama enjoys again with San Antonio against Miami
NBA 2023-2024 – Victor Wembanyama (Spurs) once again enjoyed his first match with San Antonio at home, against Miami.
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dicodusport.fr
Exactly, what can Victor Wembanyama bring to San Antonio this season and in the coming seasons?
The answer about this year is very difficult to give. But the obvious fact is that wherever he has been since he was 14/15, he has changed the game. Even if Victor Wembanyama had not yet reached mental, physical and technical maturity, he systematically changed the teams in which he played. Each time, the team revolved around him, and generally in a always positive manner. He always created a sort of unanimity by bringing together the people around him. So, I don’t see why, at Spurs, he wouldn’t change the team, especially since he is in a context where he is not alongside players who are indisputable stars.
Obviously, he’s not ready to take a team to the title overnight. But in reality, we don’t know how far he can go. Victor Wembanyama will change the team with his mere presence on the floor. I even want to tell you that he will change the NBA by his mere presence on the floor. I don’t think it’s a big word to say that, I think it’s just reality.
He formed a real staff around him, including his agents (Jeremy Medjana and Bouna Ndiaye) and his physical trainer (Guillaume Alquier). He pays attention to the smallest details. Is this proof of his maturity?
Apart from his physical abilities, Victor Wembanyama has also had extraordinary intelligence since he was a child. He has always been ahead academically, he does not spend his life on screens, and he has a lot of hobbies that relate to technique, the use of his hands and his mind. This is something that he himself expressed in an interview that I did with him at the start of 2022. He had just reached adulthood, and he explained to me that he preferred to read books, do drawings and playing Lego, because it amused him, but also because he loved working on the technique of his hands in connection with his mind. Traditionally, tall players with big hands cannot handle the ball well.
Try it yourself with a basketball or a tennis ball, you will have a lot more difficulty handling the tennis ball, because your hand becomes too big and it is more difficult to get a grip on the ball. Well, for him it’s the same. So he has this intelligence which explains why he manages to achieve all of this. This maturity is very important so as not to get carried away by the media tidal wave, expectations, and pressure that weighs on him. It’s truly impressive.
NBA 2023/24: Victor Wembanyama will be spared throughout the season
NBA 2023/24 – We know that the good physical health of Victor Wembanyama will be a big issue in the success of his career. So the San Antonio Spurs decided to take measures to preserve the Frenchman’s injury-prone size (2.24 m for 95 kg). For his rookie season, his number of matches will be limited, according to information from L’Équipe.
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dicodusport.fr
What did Victor Wembanyama bring to Betclic Elite?
He brought a light that the French championship had never had. The interest it generated will continue. In France, we are not used to talking about basketball. Only Tony Parker provoked this kind of mainstream attention. He created something that had never been seen before. Last year, the NBA went so far as to buy the rights to the French championship to be able to broadcast Victor Wembanyama’s matches. You should know that the League was also invited to the friendly match in Abu Dhabi and to the Draft. This means that there have been discussions between the National Basketball League (LNB) and the NBA. Will they lead to something else? That remains to be proven.
But I don’t think the NBA is having fun inviting leagues from around the world if they don’t think there’s something to be done with them. The LNB still has something to exploit, even if the NBA will not necessarily broadcast games this year. There is something to work on compared to what happened with Wembanyama. This is why the LNB’s line of communication revolves around its young talents. The LNB can, and must, become the springboard league towards the NBA. And if so, the NBA will naturally have an interest.
2023-10-24 10:18:45
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