A week ago, if you were fairly interested in the game of basketball, you probably were familiar with Victor Wembanyama already. But if you are even remotely interested in basketball, there is absolutely no chance that you’re not familiar with the hyper-talented French prospect anymore. The 18-year-old just put himself on the map in an unparalleled way.
First, he appeared on the cover of the most influential basketball publication in the world, SLAM Magazine, shot by Kevin Couliau, the highly-talented photographer, basketball enthusiast, and long-time friend of the BSTN family – who we introduced recently in this episode of our Feed Fam series. Then, he played to exhibition games against fellow star prospect Scoot Henderson and the G-League Ignite on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.
In the two games, the French star prospect dropped 37 and 36, respectively, along with blocks, boards, uuhhs, and aahhs for days. However, the crazy part about Vic’s game is not how far along he is at the age of 18 – it’s how mind-bogglingly smooth and fluid his moves are at 7 ft 4 in (or maybe even 7 ft 5 in, depending on your source).
In addition to absolutely nailing the timing between the SLAM cover and the two exhibition games, the true genius of Wemby, his agent, and his team is the fact that he showed out on American soil. Playing the game by American rules. Reffed by NBA referees. In a major American city. In prime time. With NBA stars sitting court-side. He drew the eyeballs of the entire basketball community. All of them.
Other top-level European talents – let’s call this one ‘Luka’, shall we!? – did not have the same level of US-exposure before entering the NBA Draft. And while many Europeans were able to properly assess the amount of ass-kickery a teenager needed to deliver to take home the MVP against grizzled EuroLeague veterans with families to feed, on the other side of the pond, it led to multiple teams criminally underrating this generational prospect [Geez, Vlade!].
In Wembanyama’s case however, the hype train has unquestionably left the station and is picking up steam by the hour. LeBron called the young prodigy ‘an alien’ and sports media outlets are racing one another to come up with the biggest superlatives and to rank Victor among the biggest can’t-miss prospects of the past decades.
There are two things to take away from this week’s two nights in Vegas. First and foremost, as long as Wembanyama stays healthy, he will leave his mark on the NBA as the number 1 pick of the 2023 NBA Draft and beyond. But secondly, his performance against the G-League Ignite squad has already altered the 2022-23 NBA season as well.
With his game and the fluidity of his moves on display for everyone to see, there will be no half stepping this season. The league will be made up of two kinds of teams and two kinds of teams only: Clear Playoff contenders and franchises pushing each and every chip they have in the 2023 Draft Lottery to the middle of the table (especially with Scoot Henderson as a surefire alternative on deck). Unlike in previous years, there will be no maybes or we’ll-sees.
For some teams, the tanking will start with game one because for two nights in Vegas, they have just seen the future.
