French teenage sensation Victor Wembanyama will not attend the NBA draft combine later this month, as his Ligue 1 season is still in progress back home. Does this mean Wembanyama will skip Summer League too?
Wembanyama plays for the Metropolitans 92 and is averaging 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game through 31 games. There is enough fanfare and excitement ahead of draft night, and we still have over a month to go.
It makes sense for the Frenchman to continue to focus on basketball and let everything else take care of itself. He’s been touted as the No. 1 prospect for over a year. What will going to the draft combine do for him?
Scouts have enough tape and will get all the medicals they need without having him come to Chicago. Live game competition and the rest of his French season will be better predictors of any future success than drills and scrimmages at the combine.
NBA Calendar Doesn’t Lineup With French Hoops Commitments
The NBA pre-draft and summer schedule also might mean that Wembanyama won’t be around to play Summer League for whichever team drafts him.
FIBA Basketball World Cup runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 10 and Wembanyama played for Team France during last summer’s EuroBasket and he’s expected to be one of the team’s top players along with Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Nando de Colo, and Nicolas Batum.
Summer League will not be nearly as competitive as a high-stakes global tournament that will feature the world’s hoops powers, including defending champions Spain and Team USA. There will be elite NBA players all over this tournament.
The NBA Draft Lottery will take place on Tuesday, May 16 and that’s the only day besides draft day that is top of mind for Team Vic. That’s when the draft order will be decided and Wembanyama will find out where he will be drafted and spending at least the first five-plus years of his NBA career.
The Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs have the best odds (14 percent) of landing Wembanyama. The next best odds go to the Charlotte Hornets at 12.5 percent.
Who Will Get Victor Wembanyama?
The Rockets just hired Ime Udoka as head coach but don’t seem to have competence in roster construction or drafting. The Pistons have young talent but their track record isn’t great either.
No doubt Team Vic is hoping the Spurs win the lottery, as they have a proven track record of player development, continuity, and a championship pedigree.
Wherever he gets drafted, Wembanyama is not short on confidence. Following his two games in the United States last year against the G League Ignite and fellow presumed lottery pick Scoot Henderson, the Frenchman talked about doing things we’ve never seen before.
“I’m gonna tell you something that’s been going on in my life, like for my whole life, since I’ve been a kid, even before I played basketball,” Wembanyama told The Associated Press. “I’ve always tried to do [something] different. I’m not even talking about sports, whatever. Any field, I’m always trying to be original, something original, something one of one, something that’s never been done before. And this is really how it worked in my life. I don’t know where it comes from. I think I was born with it. I’ve always been trying to be original. Unique, that’s the word. My goal is to be like something you’ve never seen.”
He’s already unique in some ways. But if his work ethic matches what he believes he can be, the sky’s the limit for Vic.
