Martin Lange
The great hope of French basketball Victor Wembanyama joined the Metropolitans 92 this summer “to be totally focused on his development” before “the big jump” of the NBA draft in 2023, where he is aiming for the “first place”. Europe 1 paints a portrait of this phenomenon of precocity and talent.
2m21 under the height gauge, 2m44 wingspan… Victor Wembanyama is first and foremost an extraordinary physique, unheard of in French basketball. But the giant also has golden hands. It’s simple, the unleashed kid knows how to do everything on the pitch: dribble, pass, shoot from near and far.
Launched in pro at only 15 years old
Qualities that allowed him to start his career very early, at only 15 years old. Since then, the whole world has had its eyes riveted on the prodigy. “What I do is for myself. Everything I achieve, everything I do, comes from me, from my thinking and from my work,” he explains.
Favorite of bookmakers
Unfailing confidence and a career plan reminiscent of a certain Kylian Mbappé. This summer, Victor Wembanyama returned to the Paris region at the Metropolitans 92 to play his last season in France. Next year, it’s the NBA and he has only one dream: first place in the draft, this competition organized each year by the NBA allowing clubs to recruit a player from university, high school , or from abroad.
“It’s better to be second, third or twentieth in the draft if afterwards, we have a better career. But I always have this part of pride to tell myself that there must be no one ahead. me, it’s me who must be on top.That’s good, since for the bookmakers, it’s the big favorite, which would be a historic first for French basketball.