Throughout the illustrious history of the NBA, we fans have been blessed to witness the most talented, breathtaking basketball players on the planet. From Michael Jordan to LeBron James to Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and many more. Many prospects come in with fanfare, but few can say they match the hype of the presumptive favorite to go No.1 in the 2023 NBA Draft, 7ft 4 French center Victor Wembanyama . I label him “The French Freak” for a reason, towering like a skyscraper at 7’4 and was recently measured to have an 8-foot wingspan! Are you kidding me?!
It’s not just the sheer size that has many NBA GMs, executives, and fans drooling to watch Wembanyama’s development throughout his career, but it’s the way he moves at that size combined with his unique skill set at 7’4 that is literally unprecedented in the sports illustrious history. Yes, we’ve seen guys with crazy measurements throughout NBA history that never put it all together ala Mohamed Bamba or Bol Bol. Still, none of them started playing professionally from a young age such as Wembanyama, or have been called the best prospect on the planet since he was 15-16 years old as he was in 2020 by former NBA Draft expert Mike Schmitz https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28686946/victor-wembanyama-one-best-long-term-nba-prospects-world.
He’s been on the radar for years. Still, he truly burst onto the scene in 2020 when a video went viral of the then 16-year-old Wembanyama playing multi-time Defensive Player of the Year and fellow Frenchman, Rudy Gobert to a friendly game of two on two and scouts and GMs were immediately enamored.
The hype only grew as he had a masterful U19 FIBA tournament making the first-team of the tournament along with two future NBA top-five picks in this year’s draft class in Jaden Ivey and 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren who also has a similar skillset to Wembanyama. That game was Wembanyama’s true breakout party to the draft world as he put up 22 points, 8 rebounds, and a whopping 8 blocks against a USA team that he was more than two years younger than.
He held Holmgren to just 10 points and hit a crazy fadeaway shot falling near baseline that we have never seen a big his size do at that age. Wembanyama showed the entire package from stepping out and knocking threes to swatting or altering shots to even doing a behind the back dribble in transition at 7’3 to finish at the rim! He was otherworldly in that game but unfortunately, he and France lost to the USA in that gold medal game. However, Wembanyama showed why Schmitz dubbed him the best prospect in the world just nine months earlier prior to this tournament.
Yep, we have one too
