This evening at 3:30 a.m., Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs face the Dallas Mavericks, for the Frenchman’s big debut in the NBA.
Tonight the extraterrestrial Victor Wembanyama will discover a new planet. Facing the Dallas Mavericks at 3:30 a.m. (French time live on beIN Sports), the new San Antonio Spurs player will play his first minutes in the big leagues, the NBA. The Frenchman, first in the 2023 Draft, is the most anticipated talent in the history of the league, and will quickly have to live up to expectations that are nevertheless disproportionate. From this evening ?
Its preparation arouses impatience
He has no shortage of height: at 2.24 meters, he will be the tallest player in the NBA this season. But what makes him special is his skill and technique, exceptional for his size and age (19 years old). He has already shown all his qualities in preseason, and he was able to familiarize himself with the pace of the NBA while growing physically: he explained that he gained 7 to 8 kilos during the summer period. But for “Wemby”, interviewed on the eve of his baptism of fire, nothing beats competition: “I missed playing a real match! It’s been months. I know that no one has seen my best level Still, I haven’t played in the final moments of the preparation matches. It’s going to be interesting.”
A star-studded first match
He will have a lot to do this evening, against the Dallas Mavericks who have strengthened this summer, and still have two stars in their ranks: Luka Doncic, eternal candidate for the MVP title, and Kyrie Irving, leader of Cleveland during their title in 2016. After a disappointing season, the Mavericks will be revengeful. If Luka Doncic is still uncertain for this first match due to calf discomfort, he is full of praise for the French prodigy: “It’s incredible what he achieves with this size, the way he moves , how he handles the ball, how he shoots and how he counters… I watched him and he’s an incredible player.” But if they face each other this evening, there is no doubt that the Slovenian will be able to complicate Wembanyama’s task for his big debut.
Prodigy status has its downsides
The pressure on the shoulders of the giant of Chesnay is immense, unimaginable even. No rookie has ever experienced so much media coverage even before his NBA debut. So the San Antonio Spurs, last in the Western Conference last season and unaccustomed to this frenzied attention, prepared. Team leader Devonte Graham said, “We had kind of a team meeting about the media and the attention that’s being paid to us, and how to deal with it.” Tonight, we should not expect “Wemby” to win the match alone, and this first season must above all serve as an adaptation. “The expectations are unrealistic and crazy. The only one I can compare him to in terms of those expectations is LeBron (James). He’s going to have a lot of pressure,” explains Tony Parker, legend of French basketball and the San Antonio Spurs. Let us wish “Wemby” to have the same career as King James; and it starts tonight.