“Victor Wembanyama was generally excellent on Sunday evening (33 points, 18 rebounds, 7 blocks), but his impact decreased during the two overtimes. How did you manage to contain it?
We stopped defending him with two because his teammates around him were scoring three points everywhere. I said to myself: “Let’s let him play alone, let’s make him work and stop the others.” It worked, so good for us.
It was you who had the difficult task of defending him at the end of the match. We saw you run into him and hit him. Was that also the key to the match?
It was especially the only chance I had (laughs). When you play this kind of phenomenon who is 20 years old when you are 35, when you have a second match in two days and you already have 40 minutes in your legs, you have no choice. In the end, I told my team: “Leave it to me, I’ll try to manage it.” On the first action, I put him on the ground on purpose. It was nothing personal, we had to win the match.
“He is unique and what we are seeing of him at the moment is probably the worst in the next fifteen years”
Nicolas Batum on Victor Wembanyama
Are you impressed by his progression curve for his first season in the NBA?
I have known him for a long time, and those who know him like me are not shocked by what he achieves. The only thing is, I didn’t think he would do all that in his first year. I imagined maybe his second. He is unique and what we are seeing of him right now is probably the worst in the next fifteen years. I’m really happy to have won tonight. I don’t think it will be that easy against him in the future.
What impresses you most about him?
What he has in there (points to his head). He knows who he is, what he can become and how to get there. There is also his entourage, the people around him, who I have gotten to know, and all the work he does. Everything is in place for it to become extraordinary. »
