Victor Wembanyama attended the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (New York) wearing a dark green suit and a pendant that, according to himself, was like a miniature comic book galaxy. The clothing with which he would go down in history was the biggest unknown in the ceremony of draft of the NBA in relation to the French pivot. Everyone knew that he was going to be number one, the first chosen one. And everyone knew, therefore, that he will play next season for the San Antonio Spurs, who won the lottery last month. So it has been. Wembanyama, 19 years old and about 2.24 meters tall (7 feet 4 inches is his provisional official height), aspires to mark an epoch in American professional basketball or, which is almost the same, in basketball. world.
An emotional Wembanyama said hearing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speak his name could not help but a sob. “I have dreamed of this. I have to cry”, he has told himself. Wembanyama, raised in the suburbs of Paris, had been waiting for this moment for years, when he found out how the recruiting system for new players in the NBA worked, as he acknowledged on Wednesday. “Since I met the draft, exactly how it worked, I wanted to be the first. I think I started to realize that I could be a professional basketball player at 12 years old, ”he said then.
Although the choice of draft It was taking place in New York, thousands of kilometers away, the Spurs pavilion was overflowing celebrating the arrival of the new messiah of the basket, baptized there as Wemby. The last time the San Antonios had the first shift, in 1997, they chose Tim Duncan, who won five championship rings for the Texans, always with Gregg Popovich as coach. He has been on the bench since 1996.
It will be difficult to exceed that bar, especially since Wembanyama arrives at what last season was one of the worst teams in the championship, bottom of the Western Conference with 22 wins and 60 losses. A star can be key in the evolution of a team, as Michael Jordan or LeBron James showed in their day, but basketball is a team game and not even those superstars were spared mediocre seasons with their clubs.
Wembanyama has not been able to lead his team, Metropolitans 92, to win the French league, despite having Bilal Coulibaly by his side, chosen this Thursday at number 7 in the draft. Therefore, thinking about Spurs champions in the short term seems like science fiction. Those of San Antonio have been four seasons in a row staying out of the playoffs.
In any case, the Frenchman fits perfectly into modern NBA basketball, in which it is not enough to have high centers who fight under the hoop, but it is valued that they are skillful dribbling the ball and have a good shot from average and long distance. Rebounds and blocks are taken for granted with his height. The Frenchman has all these virtues and defends his way of playing, which is unusual for someone so tall.
In the second and third position in the draft there have been no surprises either. Charlotte Hornets, who had the second pick, stays with Brandon Miller, forward from the University of Alabama. The Portland Trail Blazers, third, have opted for G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson. The Houston Rockets have opted for Amen Thompson, the fourth pick, and the Detroit Pistons for his twin brother, Ausar Thompson, next.
Draft history is full of hits and misses. Michael Jordan (third in his class), Larry Bird (6th), Kobe Bryant (13th), Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th), Nikola Jokić (41st), Stephen Curry (7th) and Joel Embiid (3rd) were relegated by players who left much less footprint. Instead, others like LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal were number ones who marked their time.
Jokić was chosen when the broadcast of the draft it was in the middle of an ad break and a Taco Bell ad was on. This year, the Serbian player has been key for the Denver Nuggets to achieve their first NBA championship title.
transfer dance
He draft it’s a system set up to balance the competition in the long run where weaker teams get priority, though there is a factor of chance to prevent teams from having a last-place competition in years like this.
Although the recruitment system, especially with a promise like this year’s, is very spectacular, every summer there are other relevant movements that alter the balance. This year the dance has already begun, especially with the rout from the Washington Wizards, who lose their best players. Center Kristaps Porziņģis, heading to the Boston Celtics; Bradley Beal is on his way to the Phoenix Suns, and Kyle Kuzma is looking for a new team.
Within that dance, the Wizards had received Chris Paul, from the Suns, but they have exchanged him with the Golden State Warriors for Jordan Poole
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