NEW YORK (AP) — Victor Wembanyama walked into his first NBA news conference Wednesday morning, took his seat and looked out at a maze of cameras and microphones that have been awaiting him for years.
And then he smiled.
“What’s up, everyone?” the French teen said.
Seeming poised and completely ready for what awaits him, Wembanyama’s NBA chapter is now underway. The NBA draft — one that Wembanyama’s towering shadow has hung over for months, blocking much of what is usually part of the process — is Thursday night, and he’ll be selected No. 1 overall by the San Antonio Spurs.
“Ever since I knew about the draft, exactly how it worked, I wanted to be first,” Wembanyama said Wednesday. “I think I started to realize I could be a professional basketball player at the age of 12. Tomorrow, something’s going to happen, something that I’ve been thinking (about) for years and years, I can’t really describe how I feel right now. I just know I’m going to have trouble sleeping tonight, for sure.”
There has been no debate about who the Spurs should take with the No. 1 pick, no discussion of which player might be a better fit, no real attempts to raise any red flags about the presumed selection.
When a player like Wembanyama comes along — and maybe none ever has — there’s no real reason to drum up any drama. The Spurs are not going to pass up someone who is listed at 7-foot-4 but has the skills of a player much smaller.
The decision is certain, but not official until Commissioner Adam Silver says Wembanyama’s name Thursday night. And Wembanyama playfully corrected a reporter in New York on Wednesday who welcomed him to San Antonio.
“Not there yet,” Wembanyama said. “But thank you.”
The 19-year-old from France has been called the best prospect since LeBron James came out of high school 20 years ago, perhaps with some physical gifts that even the NBA’s career scoring leader didn’t possess.
Expectations from the outside world are sky-high. Wembanyama insists that won’t bother him.
“I don’t let all this stuff get into my head,” Wembanyama said. “I’ve got such high expectations for myself that I’m immune to all this stuff. I really don’t care.”
He arrived Monday in the New York area, surprised that some fans were waiting for him when he landed at Newark Liberty International Airport. On Tuesday, there was his first subway ride — even hopping a turnstile as he exited, though the police who were flanking him didn’t complain — and a trip to Yankee Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch; it was well out of the strike zone. And on Wednesday morning, before his NBA duties began, he had a weightlifting workout with a coach.
He has been a big kid in a grown-up world. He signs autographs with a smile, pokes fun at himself, doesn’t mind that everyone tends to stare at someone of his height.
“Crazy,” he said of that first subway ride, with New Yorkers all around him.
Let the craziness begin. Silver will call his name Thursday night, shake his hand, and before too long Wembanyama will be on a plane for San Antonio to start the first chapter of his NBA life. Wembanyama said he will play in Summer League that starts in early July, though it remains unclear if he’ll be participating with the Spurs in the Sacramento summer league, the primary NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, or both.
