Martin Lange // Photo credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP
The defending champions, the Denver Nuggets, beat the Los Angeles Lakers overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. This Wednesday evening is the big debut of Victor Wembanyama with his San Antonio Spurs team. They face the Dallas Mavericks at 3:30 a.m. PT. In just a few weeks, the prodigy has already put the country of basketball at his feet.
“A successful season would be a season that gets closer to the goal of winning a title. But I have no doubt about our ability to win.” Blind passes, dribbles between the legs and devastating dunks. In just four pre-season matches, Victor Wembanyama has already conquered the NBA. Classy actions and statistics too with more than 19 points per match punctuated above all by unfailing confidence.
“He’s already the local star”
After his arrival, like the Messiah, the Frenchman worked all summer out of sight. And since he reappeared at the beginning of October, San Antonio has been on fire. Benjamin Moubeche is one of three French journalists who moved to Texas to observe the phenomenon.
“They are completely crazy, they are at full strength. For a training match which took place two weeks ago, there were 14,000 in the room. It was twice as many as the previous year. It’s already the local star”, explains the journalist. To say the least, the star already even has his own song. In Dallas, the opponent of the day, the players trained with telescopic arms to mimic the prodigy’s insane wingspan: 2.43 m.