Dimitri Vernet with AFP // photo credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
Frenchman Victor Wembanyama, basketball prodigy at the center of all attention, lost in his NBA debut on Wednesday evening with the Spurs against Dallas (126-119), combining promise and frustration. After a day of dark clouds, a strong wind shook the area around the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio Wednesday evening. The storm is also raging inside the stadium where the public is screaming with joy at witnessing the first match of the Wembanyama phenomenon. Since May, when the Spurs inherited the first choice of player for the draft, San Antonio fans have dreamed of this moment: Wembanyama, on the floor, white tank top stamped with N.1, in a room where thrones the jerseys of Spurs legends, like that of another Frenchman, Tony Parker.
During the warm-up, “Wemby” sat on a chair for a few seconds, his head down, when all the other players were busy, a little moment of solitude and concentration before his life turned upside down. “Tonight really marks the beginning,” he summed up.
“I’m learning”
For his first ball after the jump ball, Wembanyama flew to block a shot from Dallas star point guard Kyrie Irving. A good example of the defensive threat that his size and his endless arms bring, for the one who is called to “revolutionize” the game of the big orange ball. After three and a half minutes in the first quarter, the child from Chesnay-Rocquencourt in the Paris suburbs scored the first basket of his NBA adventure, three points. Two symbolic actions of its unique combination of size and dexterity. The rest proved frustrating for “Wemby”.
Not always served by his teammates, the Frenchman completely missed his third quarter, where two consecutive offensive fouls sent him to his seat (4 in total at this time, 6 fouls are eliminatory). A fifth immediate foul early in the fourth quarter sent him to the bench, limiting his total playing time to 23 minutes (of 48). “Maybe I wanted to do too well, I didn’t put my energy into the right things. I don’t need to put as much energy into defense. I’m learning for a first match,” said commented the Frenchman at a press conference. His animal comeback at the end of the match woke up his team and exploded the crowd with nine points in the last period including a furious dunk, for a total of 15 points (5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, but also 5 lost balls) .
Not enough for Spurs stunned at the end of the match by the class of Slovenian Luka Doncic who, after being uncertain, started the season with a triple double (33 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists). The other crack of the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving, planted 22 points.
“Great career”
Wembanyama’s difficult start shows that the road to success will be long in the NBA for the Spurs, a team in reconstruction which finished last in the Western Conference last season (22 victories in 82 matches). He has an appointment on Friday for a new match against Houston. Its power of attraction is already real, with supporters committed to its cause. Laura and Emile Forestier, engineer and history teacher, came from Lille (northern France) to see it. “We didn’t want to miss this. We hope he has a great career ahead of him, that he becomes an NBA star,” they told AFP.
Mark Burnett, an alien mask on his head, stands out in the stadium, having had an alien tattooed on his arm as well as the signature of the Frenchman, whom he met a few weeks ago. A tribute to the words of LeBron James, who called the Frenchman “alien” earlier this year. In Indiana, Frenchman Bilal Coulibaly, Wembanyama’s former teammate at the Metropolitans 92, also took his first step as a “rookie” with a heavy defeat for his Washington team against the Pacers (143-120). Coulibaly compiled 3 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and above all 3 blocks in 23 minutes.