Victor Wembanyama
- Born:
- January 4, 2004, Le Chesnay, France (age 20)
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Victor Wembanyama (born January 4, 2004, Le Chesnay, France) is a French professional basketball player known for his graceful style of play and extraordinary height (7 feet 4 inches [2.23 meters]). He was widely considered to be the most promising prospect of his generation when he was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the first pick of the 2023 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft. In 2024, Wembanyama was named Rookie of the Year.
Youth basketball
Wembanyama was active in sports from a young age, practicing judo and playing football (soccer) before focusing on basketball. His parents had both competed at an international level in their respective sports—his father, Félix Wembanyama, having been a track and field athlete who participated in the long jump and triple jump events and his mother, Elodie de Fautereau, having been a basketball player for the French national team before going on to coach the sport at the youth level. By age seven, Victor had begun training with local basketball club Entente Le Chesnay–Versailles (ELCV). Throughout his youth basketball career, he regularly competed in divisions above his age level, numbering among the youngest players in those divisions.
In 2003 Wembanyama was playing a game for ELCV that was attended by Nanterre coach Michaël Allard. Because of Wembanyama’s extraordinary height, Allard mistook him for an assistant coach and was surprised to learn that he was a member of the ELCV under-11 (U11) team. Wembanyama joined the youth team at Nanterre at age 10 and gained experience playing all over the court while he began to develop his well-rounded skill set, with the shooting, passing, and on-ball defending abilities of a typical guard. It was during this period, Wembanyama later recalled, that he first wanted to play basketball professionally. He began teaching himself English, which he knew to be the language of the NBA, by watching television shows and online videos.
Professional teams: Nanterre, ASVEL, and the Metropolitans
At age 14 Wembanyama left his family’s home to move into the Nanterre team dormitory, where he lived and trained while attending high school nearby. In 2019, at 15 years old, he made his professional debut, in a brief appearance in the European professional basketball competition EuroCup, with Nanterre’s senior team, which captured a silver medal in the tournament. The following year, as a 16-year-old with Nanterre’s U18 team, Wembanyama stood out on both sides of the court in the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament, helping his team to a second-place finish.
For the 2021–22 season, Wembanyama left Nanterre for ASVEL Basket, a team owned by French-American former NBA star Tony Parker that played in the top-tier men’s French Pro A League (Ligue Nationale de Basket Pro A). The 2021 Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) U19 World Cup, the world basketball youth championship, saw Wembanyama and the French national team competing in the finals against the United States. Despite being two years younger than the next youngest player on the court, Wembanyama stood out for his extraordinary defensive effort, setting a FIBA record for blocked shots in a single tournament (5.7 blocks per game). He was named Pro A Best Young Player of the Year in 2020–21. Scouts from the U.S. took notice of Wembanyama, who had grown to his full 7-foot 4-inch height with an 8-foot (2.44-meter) wingspan, and he was projected to be the top pick for the 2023 NBA draft. Following a season with limited playing time, further hampered by injuries, Wembanyama left ASVEL for a team that would prioritize his own development.
Wembanyama joined the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 of the Pro A League for the 2022–23 season, in which he led the league with averages of 21.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game. That season he became the youngest player to win the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, and he won additional awards as the league’s top scorer, best shot blocker, best defender, and best young player.
In an October 2022 series of two high-profile exhibition games in Henderson, Nevada, Wembanyama’s Metropolitans 92 faced off against the NBA developmental team G League Ignite and Scoot Henderson, widely projected as the second best player in the 2023 NBA draft class. The teams split the series, G League Ignite winning the first game and Metropolitans 92 the second. Wembanyama excelled, scoring 73 points over the two games and fueling excitement over his eventual play in the NBA.
NBA
Wembanyama officially announced his intention to enter the NBA draft in April 2023, at the age of 19. When he was selected by the Spurs the following June, he became the second European player to be picked number one overall in the NBA draft, joining Italian-born Andrea Bargnani, who was chosen first by the Toronto Raptors in 2006.
Although San Antonio struggled overall—finishing with a record of 22–60—Wembanyama had a stellar rookie year, averaging 21.4 points per game with 10.6 rebounds. He became just the sixth NBA player to be unanimously voted Rookie of the Year.
International career
In 2024 Wembanyama was a member of the French men’s national team at the Paris Olympics. He averaged 15.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, leading his team in all three categories. France earned a silver medal after falling to the United States in a closely fought final game. After the defeat, a confident Wembanyama told the San Antonio Express-News, “I’m learning, and I’m worried for the opponents in a couple of years.”