Everyone wants Victor Wembanyama, the 2.21-metre “alien”: the NBA and the most anticipated lottery draft of the last 20 years

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THE NBA celebrate this tuesday the lottery project awaited in recent decades, which will give the lucky winning team the ticket to choose the French Victor Wembanyamabasketball’s greatest promise since the appearance of the already legendary Lebron James.

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“Unicorn”, “alien” OR “game player” These are some of the qualifications that LeBron himself or Stephen Curry have dedicated in recent months to Wembanyama, a 2.21 meter high tower with qualities never seen before in a Draft.

Victor Wembanyama and an enviable size.  Photo: AFP

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Victor Wembanyama and an enviable size. Photo: AFP

“He has the potential to be one of the greatest to ever play basketball. We have to be ready for this guy.”the Bucks superstar said, projecting a general sentiment in the NBA.

The 19-year-old Wembanyama won’t officially know which franchise he will start his career with until a June 22 draft ceremony in Brooklyn, where the 30 teams will be distributed to the 60 best young players from the U.S. college and professional leagues around the world.

However, the surprise would be gigantic if the French pivot was not chosen from the team that wins the lottery this Tuesday, an event that will be broadcast from Chicago. Neither the NBA, which has been promoting its future star for months, nor the Wemby hide their belief that for the first time a French player will be number one in the Draft.

Viewer.  Victor Wembanyama (C) attends a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons in Paris.  Photo: EFE

Viewer. Victor Wembanyama (C) attends a game between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons in Paris. Photo: EFE

“There are ten days left to meet my future team. It’s madness”wrote the young man on Twitter on May 6.

Although this generation offers other jewels, especially the base Scott Hendersonthe NBA focused on generating huge anticipation for Wembanyama’s touchdown.

Never has a basketball promise received so much attention since a teenager named LeBron James and nicknamed The chosen onewhose high school games were nationally televised and was voted number one in 2003. Twenty years later it is theto the NBA itself, which broadcasts the matches of the Wembanyama team on its platforms, He subway 92 of the French championship, an unusual gesture for a foreign player.

THE NBA I’ve known for years about the diamond that was coming but Wembanyama fever finally broke out in the US last October when the Metropolitans 92 were invited to play two friendlies in Las Vegas against Scoot Henderson’s team, the light on of the subsidiary league G-League.

For the floor.  Victor Wembanyama, in action with his Metropolitans 92 team. Photo: AFP

For the floor. Victor Wembanyama, in action with his Metropolitans 92 team. Photo: AFP

The French banished any doubts about his potential with a whopping average of 36.5 points, 4.5 triples, 7.5 rebounds and 4 blocks in both games. Thus, faced with the possibility of acquiring a jewel of this caliber, many teams this year have launched themselves in a race to finish in the last places of the standings.

The NBA, in an effort to balance the league, gives the worst teams the best options to pick at the top of the Draft, which often causes some franchises to take steps aimed at losing games. This strategy, known as reservoirThis campaign has been heightened despite the fact that the NBA has issued several threats to prevent it. The league went so far as to fine the Mavericks $750,000 for shutting out Luka Doncic and the rest of the figures in the latter stretch of the regular season to improve their options in the draft.

Basketball messiah.  Photo: AFP

Basketball messiah. Photo: AFP

The 14 franchises left out of the playoffs will enter Tuesday’s lottery, each with a percentage of options to be in first place. pistons, Rockets AND spurs, the three teams with the worst win-loss balance, are the ones with the best chance of winning the tie, 14% each. The other teams aspiring to take number one are the hornets (12.5%), blazer (10.5%), Magic (9%), pacers (6.8%), Wizards (6.7%), Jazz (4.5%), Mavericks (3%), bulls (1.8%), Thunder (1.7%), birds of prey (1%) and pelicans (0.5%).

While everyone dreams of a talent that will transform their destiny, Wembanyama says he has no preference for his new uniform: “It doesn’t worry me. A player destined to make it big, no matter where he lands, it will be the right place.”

Source: AFP

Source: Clarin

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