Sports Writing, May 16 (EFE) become the best basketball player in the world.
The slender figure of the player defies his 234 centimeter wingspan with astonishing agility, just as his adolescent face shows unexpected maturity and an unwavering determination to achieve his goals.
“Wemby”, as he has already been dubbed in the United States, is eagerly awaiting the jump to the NBA to continue his career project, which has always been the home of this son of a family of athletes who fell into the basketball pot from a very young age. aided by his prodigious physique.
Born on January 4, 2004 in Le Chesnay, a charming residential town on the outskirts of Paris, since he was a child he attracted the attention of the world of basketball and not only because his height was much higher than average.
His mother, a former professional player, gym teacher and daughter of two former players from the years when basketball was little more than a game among friends, instilled in him the virus for this sport.
His father, a former triple jump athlete of Congolese origin, physical trainer for local basketball teams and educator of children in difficulties, made sure that little Victor always kept in mind that his peculiar physique required specific care.
Passion and training gave a mixture that, over the years, has placed Wemby at the center of all expectations, on the verge of becoming the first Frenchman chosen number 1 in the draft, where local glory Tony Parker could only be number 28.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS Rarely has a player aroused so much attention before crossing the Atlantic. Only the Slovenian Luka Doncic starred on the cover of the famous magazine “Slam Magazine” before joining the “draft” until Wembanyama did it a few months ago.
A symbol of the hopes that weigh on the shoulders of this player who has been surprising for years due to the speed and strength with which he moves his privileged physique. At the age of 8, when he was already looking at his peers from the height of his 170 centimeters, he began to playing in the modest of his town, until with 10 and almost 190 centimeters, he joined the most developed training center of Nanterre, not far from his family home.
THE EPHEMERAL BLAUGRANA EXPERIENCE
The development was spectacular and many great teams on the continent began to follow in their footsteps.
Among them Barcelona, with whom he played a lower category tournament in 2018, but where the demanding player, who was already around 210 centimeters, considered that they were too respectful of his mistakes, which he interpreted as a brake on his insatiable desire to progress. .
He returned to Nanterre where in 2019, at just fifteen years old, he made his debut in the first division and only left that club in 2021 to spend a season at Tony Parker’s ASVEL.
There he did not find the environment he wanted, the context in which he wanted to prepare his dream jump to the NBA, so after a year he returned to his homeland at the hands of the Metropolitans 92, following in the footsteps of the national coach, Vincent Collet, who That same year he left Strasbourg to sign for this club that includes the most important entities in the west of the French capital.
The Wemby poster and its sporting results have catapulted the club, which smoothly fills the modest stands of Marcel Cerdan de Levallois, barely 3,000 seats that are home to fans and curious to see the future planetary star.
And that it has also become accustomed to hosting celebrities such as actor Michael Douglas, former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, footballer Randal Kolo-Mouani, rapper Travis Scott or “youtuber” Mister V.
There he accumulates exceptional performances and has become the first player under 20 years of age to score more than 30 points in two games.
In 2019 he was key in achieving the under-16 silver medal with France, who lost in the final against Spain. She achieved the same trophy in the U-19 World Cup, despite the fact that she was two years younger than most of the participants, where she fell two points away from defeating the United States in the final.
The coach called him with the absolute for the Eurobasket in 2022, but he was out due to injury, although he removed the thorn a few months later in a qualifying duel for the 2023 World Cup, with a debut against Lithuania in which he signed 20 points and 9 rebounds, before equaling his national team record of 17 rebounds two games later in a game against the Czech Republic.
That same year, a two-game tour in the United States with his club placed him in the spotlight for a good part of the franchises, who consider that acquiring his services could increase their value by up to 500 million dollars.
Considered an “extraterrestrial” by Le Bron James, extolled by future rivals or teammates like Giannis Antetokoúnmpo, Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant, Wemby tries to keep a cool head.
“I know I don’t have the normal life of a boy my age, but it’s what I wanted and I’ve prepared myself for it. In life you have to wait for what you deserve to come to you (…) If my emotions affected me, it would mean that my mentality is not up to my basketball ”, he affirms.
For some time now, his slender figure has not been easily seen in public places, for fear of being assaulted by a crowd wanting to be photographed with him.
But the young star assures that she has not changed her habits, that she continues to draw, a habit she inherited from her mother, and that she is waiting to settle in the United States to give free rein to her passion for assembling legos, which are waiting in boxes for fear that they will be destroyed in the move.
And it is that, despite the fact that half of France wants to contact him, he keeps his phone in a drawer when he sits down for dinner and does not consult it until the next day. For fear that she will take time away from reading, his other great adventure.
Luis Miguel Pascual
