Subscribe
Follow Us
Nothing about Victor Wembanyama is normal. It's the reason why basketball fans fawned over the 7-foot-3 forward when he put up multiple 30-point performances against the G-League Ignite last month. People around him joke he might be from his own planet. He may as well be given his mindset towards basketball and beyond it.
“I’ve always felt like I was on a different level,” Wembanyama told the New York Times. “I was living a different life than everyone else in school, for example, even in elementary school. I was just thinking differently than everyone. I’ve always tried to be original in everything I do, and it’s really something that stays in my soul: Be original. Be one of a kind. It’s like, I can’t explain it. I think I was born with it.”
The future lottery pick has had big plans for himself ever since he was a child. When he was in middle school, Wembanyama started to teach himself English in preparation for playing in the NBA. It became useful later on in his life when people and media alike would flock to his games just to see the player who had Shaquille O'Neal's height, Kevin Durant's mobility at the wing and Rudy Gobert's shot blocking ability.
Article Continues Below
Michaël Bur, who coached the 18-year-old phenom when he was younger, shared a story about the youngster's unique mindset when conducting an exercise with his players. The premise of it was for the players to select a meaningful word that started with the same letter as their first name.
“He said, ‘You know, Coach, my name is Victor,’” Bur said in French. “I said, ‘Well, yes.’ He said, ‘What letter does it start with?’ And I said, ‘the letter V,’ and he said: ‘V in Roman numerals means 5. My name is Victor because I can play all five positions.’ And I thought that was extraordinary for a 16-year-old.”
Victor Wembanyama views himself as one of one much like many draft experts, who across the board have him slotted as the projected No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft.
