Victor Wembanyama, born January 4, 2004, is a French basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs. He started his professional basketball career with Nanterre 92 of LNB Pro A in 2019. Two years later, Victor was transferred to ASVEL. In 2022, Victor signed an agreement with Metropolitans 92 and was recently selected as the first overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2023 NBA draft.
Victor received multiple awards throughout his basketball career, including the LNB All-Star, All-Star Game MVP, and LNB Pro A Best Young Player. He is a player for the France men’s national basketball team and guided the team to earn silver medals twice, including the 2021 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup.
Victor Wembanyama was born to a sports-loving family in Le Chesnay, France. His father, Felix, was a track and field athlete; his mother, Elodie de Fautereau, was a basketball player and now a basketball coach. Moreover, Victor’s older sister is also a professional basketball player and his brother, Oscar, used to play basketball and handball at the youth level. Not only his parents and siblings, but Victor’s grandfather also played basketball, and his grandmother was also involved in sports. Victor practised football and Judo before playing basketball. His mother trained him in basketball as she is a basketball coach. Victor joined the Entente Le Chesnay Versailles team to play basketball at age seven.
Later, at age 10, he moved to Nanterre 92, a professional basketball club. In February 2018, Victor temporarily got to play for the FC Barcelona Basquet team in exchange for Minicopa del Rey. It was an under-14 tournament in Spain, where Victor led his team to earn the third spot.
What is the Wingspan of Victor Wembanyama?
Victor Wembanyama has a wingspan of 8 feet and is 7 feet 4 inches tall. Wingspan is commonly referred to as the distance between one tip of the plane's wing to the other. In sports, it is the distance between a player’s outstretched fingertips.
In the sport of basketball, wingspan plays a huge role. On the offense, it is esepcially useful to shoot the ball over defenders, reach for offensive rebounds, keep the ball away from defenders and generally helps in scoring easier buckets. Over to the defensive side of the ball, a larger wingspan is helpful in reaching for steals, blocking shots, or in general making other shots more difficult.
Professional Basketball Journey
Victor began his professional basketball career in 2019 after joining the Nanterre 92 senior team, where Pascal Donnadieu, the head coach, guided him. On October 29, he played his first match of the season against Brescia in the EuroCup. He became the second youngest player after Stefan Petkovic to play in the EuroCup. On February 8, 2020, Victor grabbed 22 points and 15 rebounds in a victory over the under-18 team of Zaragoza. During the 2019-20 season, Victor averaged 10.2 points, 4.9 points and 3.3 blocks per game.
During the 2020-21 season, Victor played for multiple teams, including the Nanterre’s senior, and Under-21 teams and also committed to play for the Centre Federal in the National Masculine 1 (NM1). One of Victor’s video got viral in October, in which he showed his skills in a two-on-two pick-up game over Ruby Gobert and Vincent Porter. In 2021, he was regarded as the Pro A Best Young Player for his impressive performance in the Pro A games.
After playing for two seasons with Nanterre 92, Victor decided to leave the team and signed a three-year contract with ASVEL of the Pro A and the EuroLeague. He debuted for the team on October 1 in a 88-76 victory over Zalgiris. The following month, Victory was sidelined for two to three weeks after having a fracture in his finger. He returned on December 2 but was unfortunately ruled out again for four to six weeks on December 20 due to a bone bruise in his right shoulder. Despite having many injuries throughout the season, Victor was regarded as Pro A Best Young Player and ranked second in voting for the Euroleague Rising Star award.
Victor opted out of his contract with ASVEL and signed a two-year contract with Metropolitans 92 team of the LNB Pro A. All the initial games played by Victor were televised across the country. In the first game, on October 4, Victor scored 37 points and four rebounds. On November 4, 2022, he recorded a career-high 33 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and four assists in a match against the Limoges CSP. During the 2022-23 season, Victor served as the captain of the French team.
FAQs
A. Victor primarily plays as a power forward or the center on the basketball court.
A. Victor has a defensive rating of 112.2 during the 2022-23 season.
A. During the 2022-23 season, Victor averaged 21.6 points per game in 33 games.
A. Victor stands at an impressive height of 7 feet 4 inches (2.24m).
