Dwyane Wade raves about Victor Wembanyama as he watches the French phenom for first time: "Electrifying"

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama and France began their 2024 Paris Olympic campaign on Saturday, with the team picking up a 78-66 win over Brazil. In the first half, Wembanyama dominated on both ends of the floor, scoring 14 points and hauling down five rebounds, earning praise from Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, who was on-hand calling the game.

Following Wade's praise, Wembanyama continued to dominate in the second half, finishing the game with 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists, four steals and three blocks. As France and Brazil returned from the half, the camera cut to Wade, who spoke about Wembanyama's impact.

After dominating the NBA in his rookie year, earning Rookie of the Year honors while landing himself in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation thanks to his stellar play. Although the San Antonio Spurs struggled as a team, posting one of the worst records in the Western Conference, Victor Wembanyama proved that he's without question one of the most promising young players in the league.

According to Wade, the word 'electrifying' doesn't begin to cut it:

"I mean, this guy is electrifying. And that's not even a big enough word for what he brings, but what I love most about him.

"Obviously, we're gonna all look at the highlights, and they're gonna be incredible, but it's the patience of this player and the patience to make sure that his teammates get involved and get into the game first. And he did the little things first. He did the little things early to get himself going, and then he took over."

Victor Wembanyama praises Team France

Leading up to the Paris Olympics, Victor Wembanyama and Team France struggled with their final stretch of international friendly games. The team got off to a hot start, winning back-to-back games, which included a win over Germany, who entered the Paris Olympics as reigning FIBA World Cup champions.

The team then lost four straight games, falling to Germany in a rematch, as well as Serbia and Canada, both of whom had strong showings at the FIBA World Cup. In the team's final International Friendly game, they fell to Australia, entering the Olympics on a four-game losing skid.

In a virtual press conference with media members leading up to the Olympics, Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert were undeterred despite the team's struggles. As Wembanyama explained, the difference between France and other teams was their will to win:

“The will to do. I’ve never seen so much of it before in other teams. Our confidence is still very high. We know the road is not going to be smooth. There will be difficulties.”

Wembanyama further explained that it's better to go through tough times before the start of the Olympics rather than during the Olympics. From the looks of things, the young superstar was correct, with France defeating Brazil in the opening game of the Group Phase on Saturday.