LOS ANGELES – The anticipation for Victor Wembanyama is over as the San Antonio Spurs phenom has finally taken the court and made his NBA debut. The young star faced off against Los Angeles Clippers forward Nicolas Batum, and it was certainly a big moment in France's history.
“It just reminded me I'm the oldest French now in the NBA,” Batum said following Sunday's 123-83 win over the Spurs.
Nicolas Batum, set to turn 35 years of age on December 14th, has played in the NBA for 16 years. He's one of the longest-tenured active players in the NBA today, and he faced off against the 19-year old he helped discover back in France.
“I mean it was cool to finally seem him in the NBA court, live, play against him. I think my son was more excited than me. He was wearing his jersey. He loves Wemby. That’s cool, that’s okay. But no it was cool to just share, the court with him. You can see he's going to be fine. He just going to have up and down. We play a great game with a great game plan to stop him and the Spurs so it was good for us, but no it was just a cool moment just to share the court with him.”
Despite the hype, the Clippers did a solid job defending Wembanyama in his first career road game. He finished with just 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and five turnovers. One of the misses was a blocked alley-oop dunk that Batum rotated over to as a the help defender and blocked just as Wemby was getting ready to throw it down.
Seeing Wemby and Batum competing against each other is deeply cool if you know their history. Nico giving Vic some trouble! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/IKTOPRWXM0
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) October 30, 2023
The French connection
That play was really the first time you saw a player of his size blocked at the basket, but Clippers' Batum says he just timed his help and block right.
“I think it's just anticipation. It’s not really about him just the play. I mean you could see the roll was coming. I don't know why I did that though, to be honest. Almost 35 years old and I tried to block a shot. I did it. Nothing's going to happen with offense so at least I did it once so I can say that, but I don't know. It was just anticipation during the game.
Nicolas Batum and Spurs legend Tony Parker are two of the very best NBA stars to come out of France. Batum has been the guy who was young and needed mentorship, and now he's taking on the role of a veteran who helps the net generation.
“I mean this is what is for us, when I got there, all the vets called me, took me under their wings, give me advice, and since then we tried to do that also with the new generation, we try to pass the torch every time a new guy coming in and [Wembanyama] is going to do that in 10 years to the new guys coming, as well. So I mean have a chance to have so many French kids coming in pretty much in every draft. So we just try to keep going and make sure every guy come into the league as successful.”
Now more than anything, Batum feels a great sense of pride and joy in seeing Victor Wembanyama thrive on the biggest stage in the world. When he was about 17 years old, Nicolas Batum and Tony Parker signed Wembanyama to their French team Asvel Basket, also known as LDLC Asvel.
The seven-foot-four big man was able to grow and develop under the tutelage of those two French basketball legends. He later joined Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, the team he played one season for before being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
“I mean, yeah, I mean just as a French,” Nicolas Batum said when asked how if he's proud of Wembanyama. “I mean he's good to have a guy who come from your country be like that phenom. So it’s going to be the next 15-plus years is going to be insane for him. So just glad I got to know him way before that and to play against him for a little bit is great because I know in a couple years he might be insane to guard or just to watch him play is going to be insane. So if everything stay on line, injuries and everything, he can be great. So no just happy for him. Proud as a French. As a fan, pretty happy for him.”
Nicolas Batum has hinted at retirement, so it's unclear just how many matchups he and Victor Wembanyama have against one another. The Clippers were scheduled to play the Spurs two more times in late November, but anything beyond that is up in the air.
*Note: Clippers' Nicolas Batum spoke about Victor Wembanyama ahead of his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers late Monday night.
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