SAN ANTONIO – Victor Wembanyama, the 19-year-old French basketball sensation who is expected to be the San Antonio Spurs’ number-one draft pick, spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of the NBA Draft on Thursday night.
Wembanyama answered questions from reporters in both French and English, and talked about his goals, expectations and the city of San Antonio and the Spurs. He also explained why he appears to be immune to all the attention he receives, and quashed any doubts about not playing in the NBA’s Summer League.
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“I don’t let all this stuff get into my head. I have such high expectations of myself, I’m immune to all this stuff,” Wembanyama said. “I’m trying to be the best. Being the best is not only on the court. It’s being the best at media and press conference, I don’t like to do things halfway.”
Wembanyama says despite traveling he’s been lifting every day since finishing his French season ended, and that he is in good shape and ready to play even more basketball.
“I will be playing in Summer League,” he said.
Wemby admitted during the press conference that he realized he could be a professional basketball player at 12 and said he feels really, really lucky. Ever since he learned about the NBA draft, he’s wanted to go first. He said he can’t wait to be picked by the Spurs.
“For me, San Antonio is a synonym of winning,” Wembanyama said. “When the Spurs got the number one pick, I was thinking I was lucky they got the pick, as a franchise that has that culture.”
Wembanyama, who was in New York on Tuesday before heading to Brooklyn for the draft, threw out the ceremonial first pitch in a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners at Yankees Stadium.
Wemby was also interviewed by “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts and a portion of his interview with Roberts aired Wednesday on GMA. The full interview will air during the ABC presentation of the NBA draft taking place on Thursday. You can watch both on KSAT.
“Tomorrow is something that I’ve been thinking about for years and years,” Wembanyama said.