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☆ A Subway Ride With Victor Wembanyama to Yankee Stadium
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Tania Ganguli | Desiree Rios | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was a rather unremarkable Tuesday at Central Park West and Columbus Circle. A light breeze rustled the sycamore branches hanging over a bicycle rental kiosk filled with neat rows of mint green helmets. Then, at 4:41 p.m., a black Mercedes van crept through the jam of buses, police vehicles and flower-adorned bicycle cabs. He was on his way to Yankee Stadium to throw the ceremonial first pitch for Tuesday night’s game with Seattle. But before that, he wanted to try something he had never done: ride the New York City subway.

Persons: Mercedes van, “ It’s Victor Wembanyama, Wembanyama, LeBron James Organizations: Central Park West, Columbus, Barclays Center, San Antonio Spurs, Yankee, Seattle, New Locations: Brooklyn, New York City

☆ N.B.A. Draft Preview: After Victor Wembanyama, Watch for These Players
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( David Gardner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The only mystery surrounding the top pick in this year’s N.B.A. On May 16, the San Antonio Spurs won the draft lottery, giving them the opportunity — or, perhaps more aptly, the obligation — to select Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick. Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 French superstar, is perhaps the most-hyped N.B.A. Within his eight-foot wingspan, Wembanyama has just about every skill N.B.A. “There is no better environment for him than the Spurs,” said Jonathan Givony, a draft analyst for ESPN.

Persons: Victor Wembanyama, LeBron James, Wembanyama, ”, Jonathan Givony Organizations: San Antonio Spurs, Spurs, ESPN

☆ The San Antonio Spurs Win the Victor Wembanyama NBA Lottery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/san-antonio-spurs-victor-wembanyama-nba-lottery-804ea23a

☆ The Greatest NBA Prospect Since LeBron Gets His Next Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/victor-wembanyama-san-antonio-spurs-nba-draft-6b0fd593

☆ How Victor Wembanyama Could Fit on the San Antonio Spurs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Kris Rhim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 dynamic forward who is this year’s most prized N.B.A. prospect, cheered with his family in France as the San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 draft lottery Tuesday night. In San Antonio, fans, perhaps understandably, celebrated like they had won a championship, yelling in bars and honking car horns. “What are the San Antonio Spurs getting in Victor Wembanyama?” the reporter asked. He isn’t a typical draft prospect, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be one, either.

☆ Victor Wembanyama: How ‘Wembymania’ gripped France due to the most exciting draft prospect since LeBron James
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

There have been few players whose journey to the pinnacle of basketball have been as highly followed; in figures released by the NBA, Wembanyama is No. And I keep having to explain to them that having a sold-out, 15,000-people crowd for a regular French professional basketball game is not normal at all,” she said. His father was a high jumper, his mother was a former basketball player who is now a coach and his two siblings – older sister Eve and younger brother Oscar – are basketball players. And the French basketball system where he has been nurtured has helped develop his unique talent, says Krasnoff. “And it certainly has driven US interest in French basketball, at least as far as Wembanyama is concerned.

☆ San Antonio Spurs Get the No. 1 Pick in the N.B.A. Draft Lottery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Sopan Deb | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

He plays for Metropolitans 92, a professional French league team, where he is averaging 21.6 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. G League hosted his team for a two-game exhibition near Las Vegas in October, and the N.B.A. The draft order is decided by a lottery that grants teams with worse regular-season records better odds for the No. This system has led to teams being accused of tanking — not prioritizing winning to position themselves for high draft picks. The three teams with the best chance — 14 percent — to get the top pick this year were the Detroit Pistons, the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs.

☆ Everybody Wants Victor Wembanyama. He Wants to Rule the N.B.A.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Tania Ganguli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Boris Diaw was passing through Paris in late September and thought he would check out a basketball game. It was the first home game of the season for the Metropolitans 92, a French league team led by the star teenager Victor Wembanyama. At Marcel-Cerdan Sports Palace in Levallois, near Paris, N.B.A. Diaw grew up in Paris and played 14 years in the N.B.A., including more than four seasons in San Antonio with Tony Parker, considered by many to be the best N.B.A. “I hope he can actually get away from that and just focus on his career and playing and practicing and having fun, too.”

☆ What to Know About the N.B.A. Draft Lottery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fans of the N.B.A. draft lottery may seem an odd spectacle, but it can affect the future of franchises for years to come. When and where is the lottery, and how can I watch? The lottery is Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern in Chicago. The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs are eligible; that includes the four teams that made the play-in games but failed to advance to the playoffs proper.

☆ The French Coach Preparing Victor Wembanyama for NBA Stardom
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Joshua Robinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS—Victor Wembanyama has known for a year that he will be the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft. As the most highly rated prospect since LeBron James, the 7-foot-3 teenager from France is all but guaranteed a fast-track to the league. He also could have remained with his pro club in Lyon, where he had just won a French championship. Instead, he moved last summer to the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans, a pro club with a small gym on the outskirts of Paris.

☆ Scoot Henderson on being a projected top pick in the 2023 NBA draft and his endorsement deal with Puma
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( John Lynch | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Scoot Henderson is projected to be one of the top draft picks in the 2023 NBA Draft. So, you know, I'm just blessed that I came here and made the right decision. So I knew it was gonna be pretty tough, and I knew I was gonna really develop from it at a high level. And, uh, like I said, like I'm gonna keep saying, I'm blessed that I came here. And Puma, they gave me that confidence that I needed in a group, and in a brand like Puma, man.

☆ The Toughest Ticket in Paris Isn’t Messi—It’s Wemby
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Joshua Robinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LEVALLOIS-PERRET, France—The hottest ticket in French sports these days is for a sleepy gym on the outskirts of Paris, where basketball players duck under doorways and fans use halftime as a collective smoke break. Supporters come to games just 2,800 at a time, because that’s all the building here can fit. But those who do get inside have all made the trip for the same reason: a 7-foot-3 teenager named Victor Wembanyama. At 19, he’s the brightest NBA prospect since LeBron James, and soon, he’ll be on his way out of France.

☆ The Best Draft Prospect Since LeBron is Coming. NBA Teams Aren’t Tanking for Him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The arrival next season of the most hyped NBA prospect since LeBron James was supposed to be foreshadowed by an all-time spectacle of futility in this one. Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 French teenager, launches one-legged 3-pointers and swallows opposing team’s shots whole. He is a functional certainty to be selected first in June’s draft. In other words, he is the type of future winner that teams have long considered to be worth losing for.

Jan 18 (Reuters) - The NBA returns to Paris on Thursday for the first time in three years amid growing optimism in France that the men's national team could win Olympic gold on home soil next year. "The French have a phenomenal basketball culture and over the years they have developed great players, great clubs and very good national teams," Aivazoglou told Reuters. "He's one of the biggest prospects in many decades if not among the top ones of all time," Aivazoglou said. "Basketball is a sport the French are already super excited about and Wembanyama just adds to it." "We're looking at where we are going to play our regular season game next year and we anticipate that it is very, very likely that we will come back to Paris," Aivazoglou said.

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