Now we know: Victor Wembanyama, the supremely gifted 7-foot-4 Frenchman being hyped as the next NBA superstar, has tasted his first breakfast taco.
Though Wembanyama’s experiencing the dish that practically defines San Antonio went viral when he was asked about it following his selection by the Spurs as the No. 1 selection of the 2023 NBA draft on Thursday night, it was far from the most important dining experience of his first day in his new home city.
Wembanyama’s arrival Friday afternoon at San Antonio International Airport’s charter terminal was greeted by hundreds of Spurs fans who had waited hours in scorching heat to get a glimpse of the player they are certain will lead the team back to NBA championship contention. Within hours he was dining with three of the most important players in club history: Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.
At a Saturday press conference where Wembanyama was formally introduced to the media and a couple hundred employees of Spurs Sports and Entertainment, nobody gave a fig about the cuisine enjoyed by the four Spurs stars, past and future.
What they discussed was far more important.
“In a couple of hours,” Wembanyama said, ”I learned more about the NBA than I had in my whole life. It’s so comforting to see these people who are so important to the city of San Antonio and the franchise are such kind people and generous, because they genuinely wanted to share with me their experience.
“I feel like they have already started to take great care of me and it’s just so important to be in that position, so comfortable. I think it was also the position Tim Duncan was in when he came in, because he told me he just had to look up to David Robinson and Sean Elliott and follow their path, and he knew he was in good hands.”
Even Robinson and Duncan, both 7-footers, literally had to look up to Wembanyama. In person, he seems even taller than the official 7-foot-4 at which he is listed. With his basketball sneakers adding at least another inch to his height and an 8-foot wingspan, he can dunk without his feet leaving the court. Yet it is his skill with the basketball and his footwork that make him such a singular talent. Though he wears size 20 1/2 shoes, nobody ever has called him clumsy. Rather, he is balletic on the court, especially so when he is handling the ball like a guard, rather than a center.
His ball handling skills were honed from an early age. A coach Wembanyama called “a basketball fanatic” showed him videotape of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, still considered by many basketball experts to be the greatest ball handler ever. Maravich, who played in the NBA from 1970-1980 and was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1987, roughly a year before dying of a heart attack at age 40, invented many of the ball handling drills used by most NBA players these days. Wembanyama’s basketball fanatic coach advised him to watch and learn from “Pistol Pete.”
“One of my coaches, when I was 12, 13 years old, was a big [Maravich] fan,” Wembanyama said. “He knows everything about basketball and he was the one watching the videos and then giving [me] his advice.”
Both Wembanyama’s father, Felix, and his mother, Elodie de Fautereau, were athletes and both stand over 6 feet tall. Felix, born and raised in Democratic Republic of Congo, is 6-6 and a former track and field athlete, specializing in the high jump, long jump and triple-jump. Elodie, born and raised in France, is 6-3 and played professional basketball in France.
It was Wembanyama’s mother who taught him the rudiments of the game, beginning at age 5. Her coaching style, Wembanyama said, was a tad gentler than that of the Spurs’ often-peppery Gregg Popovich, who ranks as the winningest NBA coach of all time.
“I haven’t experienced playing under Coach Pop yet,” Wembanyama said. “I know for sure my Mom wasn’t as hard as him because she was only my coach when I was, like, 5 years old. If she had been as tough as Coach Pop I probably would have quit.
“But, yeah she always knew her role, and basketball, for her and for my family, was always secondary. The first thing was always making me grow as a person and being a good human being before being a good basketball player.”
It is the latter trait — being a good person — that has impressed the Spurs, perhaps even as much as Wembanyama’s basketball skill.
“How do you know until you get the human in your building?” said R.C. Buford, CEO of Spurs organization. “… The human being is one that we have a lot of respect for and are excited to bring him into our program. … This is a big responsibility. We want to honor the opportunity that’s in front of us.”
Popovich, entering his 28th season as head coach of the Spurs, has had limited conversations with his new star but intends to get to know him much better, and soon.
“I don’t know what I’m going to say to him when I get to know him a little bit better,” Popovich said Thursday night in the minutes immediately following Wembanyama’s selection. “We don’t have a personal relationship yet. But from what I’ve seen, I don’t think he’s going to need a lot from me in handling pressure. His parents have already done a hell of a job.”
Pressure? There will be plenty. When you are called an “alien” talent by LeBron James, one of the game’s greatest players of all time and the only player in the 21st century whose drafting was hyped to the extent of Wembanyama’s, you are expected to produce, and in short order.
“Because of all the hype he’ll have a target on his back,” Popovich said. “So, more than Os and Xs, to begin with we’ll be most interested in setting a framework and an environment where he’s comfortable and where he can be Victor. Not LeBron or Tim, or Kobe [Bryant] or anybody else. He’s Victor.”
On Saturday, Wembanyama acknowledged he could use some time to breathe. And yet, in keeping with a work ethic that has been equal to his skill set, he looks forward to getting back on the basketball court and in the weight room.
“I’ve got a lot to do, but it is OK. It is all going to fit into the schedule,” he said. “I have got houses to visit, to get comfortably installed in the city. I’ve got to go out of state to Nike headquarters in Portland. Yeah, I’ve got a couple of things to do around the States. But, most importantly … I’ve got to go back to really focusing on practicing and lifting, because this isn’t what I have done most in the past couple of days. It feels really weird.”
For San Antonians, the Spurs’ failure to qualify for the playoffs the past four seasons felt really weird after 22 seasons of making the NBA’s postseason.
Wembanyama seems perfectly suited to change that.
