From his height of 2m25, it is difficult not to notice Victor Wembanyama on a basketball floor. If sports media attention from around the world has focused on the young Parisian in recent years, it is also, in large part, for his talent. The combination of his exceptional physical measurements, his knowledge of the game and a conquering mentality makes him one of the future standard-bearers of French sport, he who has just crossed the Atlantic to discover the NBA. Business Cool gives you a portrait of the new genius of the orange ball.
The beginnings of Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama: his Ile-de-France childhood
Before diving into the heart of the subject, let’s first return to the origins of the Victor Wembanyama phenomenon. Born in Chesnay, in the south of Île-de-France, on January 4, 2004, little Victor landed in a family punctuated by sport and competition: his father, Félix, was an athlete specializing in jumps, already awarded of a French champion title. Measuring 2m01, he also tried basketball at an amateur level.
His mother was a Nationale 1 player, herself from parents who loved basketball, and it was quite natural that Victor began to play the orange ball from a very young age, just like his sister Ève and his brother Oscar. also players listed in their age category.
It was in his hometown of Yvelines that Victor put on his first baskets, three years of discovery before heading to Nanterre, one of the most important structures in the region. Then aged 11, Victor already measures 1m91 (the same height as his mother) and attracts envy. In 2014, he tried out for FC Barcelona in Spain, but ultimately decided to stay in Hauts-de-Seine to complete his training.
From then on, he continued to grow, literally and figuratively, dominating the junior championship and becoming the best blocker in the championship. His remarkable performances are beginning to intrigue the microcosm of French basketball: he played his first minutes in the French first division during the 2019-20 season, continued to evolve within his club’s junior team and played, in parallel, with the The INSEP team, in Nationale 1, the following year.
At the end of the 2020-21 season, a choice presents itself: continue to grow in your longtime club… or change dimension by joining ASVEL, one of the biggest clubs in France, led by… Tony Parker. Victor ends up leaving his native region and signing a three-year contract with the Lyon club.
A mixed Rhone experience
If the choice seems obvious, Victor’s year in Lyon does not go as planned. AVSEL, reigning French champion and involved in the EuroLeague, the biggest European competition, must maintain its status and cannot afford to give major responsibilities to Victor Wembanyama.
For his first real professional season, he played 19 minutes per match, during which he scored, on average, around ten points and stood out for his defensive versatility. He also takes part in some great European games but Victor wants more: he wants to become the leader of a team.
His decision is made, he will leave ASVEL. From then on, the Ile-de-France clubs took a position on the subject and it was ultimately the Metropolitans 92 who won. Victor joins the club affiliated with the cities of Boulogne and Levallois for two years (one of which is optional) with a clear objective: to impress the world of basketball with his talent in preparation for the NBA Draft, an annual event during which the thirty franchises of the biggest basketball league are recruiting the best young players in the world.
The advent of Victor Wembanyama
His arrival in Boulogne-Levallois
With Vincent Collet, coach of the French team and the Mets 92, the intention is clear: build a team around Victor Wembanyama and take it as high as possible. The beginnings are promising, the team wins, moves to the top of the championship and Victor asserts himself as a true leader: it is the beginning of the emergence of a phenomenon… whose life will truly change at the start of the month of October 2022.
Las Vegas, a short trip with a rocking feel
While the season in France is in full swing, the NBA and the Metropolitans have agreed to an agreement: to organize two basketball meetings between the Victor team, projected in first place in the 2023 Draft, and the G- team. League Ignite, led by Scoot Henderson, the French prodigy’s main competitor in this battle for the first choice.
If Victor had already convinced the greatest basketball experts across the United States, the American population has only the slightest interest in the performance of a basketball player outside its borders: it was therefore necessary that Victor Wembanyama comes to show his abilities, on American soil, in Las Vegas.
Two meetings are scheduled two days apart during which Victor dazzles the entire planet with his talent: 37 points in the first meeting, 36 in the second, enough to ignite Uncle Sam’s country. Considered ” the greatest prospect since LeBron James” , according to Mike Schmitz, a local expert, all eyes are now on Victor’s season with the Mets ’92.
Indeed, a succession of unexpected events follows: the NBA buys the broadcasting rights of the Hauts-de-Seine team in order to broadcast all of Victor’s matches in the United States. In France, all the matches were played behind closed doors, an unprecedented situation in the history of the French first division. Unimpressed by this sudden enthusiasm, Victor continued to perform every weekend and managed to lift the Metropolitans 92 to second place in the regular phase, just ahead of ASVEL, his former club… like a symbol.
While the NBA Draft is approaching and all the best young players in the world are preparing for this event, Victor is still playing: qualified for the final phase of the French championship, the Mets successively take out Cholet, then ASVEL, a once again, to reach the final, against the Monegasque ogre. A final against Monaco therefore, undoubtedly the dream scenario after having defeated his former club. Facing the third best team in Europe (beaten by Olympiakos in the Euroleague Final Four a few days earlier), the Metropolitans and Victor were too fair and lost sharply 3-0, despite a short Phillipe Chatrier from Roland Full garros, requisitioned for the occasion.
Victor then leaves the first division of the French championship through the front door, with only one idea in mind: to conquer the United States and the NBA, the highest place for competitive basketball in the world.
The San Antonio Spurs: from Tony Parker to Victor Wembanyama
It is with great emotion that Victor is selected by the San Antonio Spurs, on June 22, 2023, in first place in the NBA Draft, as expected. The franchise that saw Tony Parker grow up, crowned with four championship titles and a Finals MVP title in Texas, makes Victor Wembanyama the centerpiece of its reconstruction, coming out of a painful 2022-23 year . See you at the end of October 2023 to appreciate Victor’s first steps during an official NBA match.
Victor Wembanyama and the French team
If the Wembanyama madness took hold of the global basketball universe during his escapade in Las Vegas, Victor was already well known to recruiters around the world for years. Accustomed to international podiums with the French youth teams, he particularly distinguished himself during the Under-19 World Cup in 2021.
Elected in the major five of the competition, he took France to the final against the United States, the big favorites of the competition. Despite the defeat, this competition marks a turning point in the vision given to American experts… who will not leave him for an instant, until his arrival in the NBA.
What about his future in the France A team? He has already announced his withdrawal from the team for the 2023 World Cup, despite his participation in the qualifying phases earlier in the year. A rational choice according to himwho is looking ahead to the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, a competition during which he will be keen to bring back gold to France, three times silver medalists in 1948, 2000 and 2021.
The main achievements of Victor Wembanyama
The collective prize list
- Champion of France 2022 with ASVEL
- Vice-champion of France 2023 with the Metropolitans 92
- Vice-world champion under 19 with the French team in 2021
- European under-16 vice-champion with the French team in 2019
Victor Wembanyama’s individual distinctions
- Selection for the LNB All-Star Game in 2021 and 2022
- 2022 LNB All-Star Game MVP
- Best blocker in the French championship in 2021, 2022 and 2023
- Best hope of the French championship in 2021, 2022 and 2023
- Top scorer in the French championship in 2023
- Best rebounder in the French championship in 2023
- Best evaluation of the French championship in 2023
- Best defender in the French championship in 2023
- Best player in the French championship in 2023
- Member of the 5 major of the French championship in 2023
- Member of the 5 major of the U19 World Cup with the French Team in 2021
- Member of the 5 major of Euro U16 with the French team in 2019
Victor Wembanyama in figures
If his talent is unquantifiable, his physical attributes are disproportionate:
- 1m70 at 8 years old
- 1m91 at 11 years old
- 2m25 today
- 2m43 wingspan
- size 55
Speaking of figures, his arrival in the NBA is also synonymous with a clear salary increase. If his salary at the Mets could be described as comfortable (estimated between 15,000 and 20,000 euros per month), the NBA remuneration goes beyond all rationality. As number one in the Draft, Victor Wembanyama’s salary is already defined: he will receive $12,160,680, or nearly eleven million euros next year, and should receive more than $55 million over the four next years.
