French phenom Victor Wembanyama discusses Spurs’ expectations to win in upcoming season

SAN ANTONIO – After winning the 2023-2024 NBA Rookie of the Year award, Victor Wembanyama had a busy summer.

From sponsorship events to the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he helped his French National Team reach the gold medal game against the United States, and even attending sports trading card shows, Wembanyama was booked.

On Wembanyama’s Monday schedule was the 2024 San Antonio Spurs media day, where he was asked about his expectations for the upcoming season now that the Spurs have added veteran players Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes.

“I just focus on, you know, my actual responsibilities because I don’t have any responsibilities to any of you really (referring to the media), just the guys in the locker room and the training room over there, that’s it,” said Wembanyama. “Last year, our expectations for ourselves were to learn and to learn to know ourselves, and I think that towards the end of the year, we really showed that this year, we expect to win.”

“Victor was great. He improved steadily throughout the Olympics and ended up being very formidable,” said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich on Wembanyama’s performance during the Olympics and how the style of play helped him develop over the offseason. “FIBA (The International Basketball Federation) is much more aggressive than the NBA, so it was a wonderful little petri dish for him, so to speak, to be able to do that every day and every game, and that’s where he really rose as it went along.”

As training camp begins, be on the lookout for more Spurs coverage from the KSAT 12 Sports Team.