Since Wembanyama only turned 19 last month, he may not be finished growing.
Now that it’s becoming clearer which NBA franchises are in the running for the No.
Nobody has drawn this much buzz entering the NBA Draft since LeBron James in 2003.
Even The King wasn’t considered a top-10 player in his first season as a pro.
In fact, he was part of a legendary draft class featuring Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade.
None of those three were considered instant top-10 players.
None of them made the All-Star team as rookies.
Thus, I realize how bold of a prediction this is.
But if you look around the NBA right now, whoarethe 10 best players?
LeBron will be in his 21st season when Wembanyama enters the NBA.
Then you have Durant and Curry getting up there in age and always getting hurt.
We all know Embiid is constantly in and out of the lineup.
I’ll hear top-10 arguments for, say, Donovan Mitchell or Ja Morant.
In any event, seems pretty open for Wembanyama to put his stamp on the NBA right away.
He doesn’t just dream about it.
He doesn’t just think that everything around him will happen because he’s Victor.
He knows that he has to work harder than everybody else."
‘Thats the craziest s I had ever seen in my life.'"
Even more impressive is how Wembanyama’s work ethic has been strong since his early basketball days.
“Boubekris marathon training sessions typically began with at least two hours of ballhandling work.
Fail to do so and run 30 laps around the court.
The rope was simply for jumping.
Players would switch between weighted and regular balls.
While Boubekri’s approach was intense, he kept his team engaged and diminished the monotony of the work.
‘That taught us rigor,’ Wembanyama says.
What impressed him most was Victors mind.
‘Victor used to answer the weirdest questions,’ he recalls.”
Wembanyama’s poise and confidence in his skills don’t come across as brash or arrogant, either.
Plenty of proven players around him have counseled him on the pitfalls of that I’m sure.
You see some early success stories get too big for their britches and end up in the mental gutter.
Koepka didn’t toe the line of confidence and cocky well.
He acted like golf didn’t matter that much to him.
Like it was a nerdy game and that he’d rather have played baseball professionally.
Seemed like no one could rattle him.
Now, he’s admitted to losing his confidence and bolted the PGA Tour for a LIV Golf payday.
It’s more to underscore how fragile confidence can be especially if you get too big-headed about it.
An even more extreme case of this in the NFL was Josh Rosen.
When it comes to Wembanyama, I get more Patrick Mahomes key in vibes.
To tie this all together, yours truly predicted Mahomes to be a superstar coming out of Texas Tech.
Sad that I didn’t get that on public record.
Ask anyone who knows me, though.
A big reason why?This Mahomes profile by Doug Farrar from Bleacher Report.
That’s where these long profile pieces can help fill in the gaps and be so valuable and illuminating.
There’s always the risk of the subject presenting themselves as someone they’re not, of course.
In Wembanyama’s case, he seems genuine, humble and laser-focused on maximizing his limitless basketball potential.
Like you wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote poetry on the side or something a la Myles Garrett.
Brace yourselves, because as theSipiece calls it, “Wembamania” is coming to a court near you.
