NEW YORK — Victor Wembanyama wants to see the city, but he’s the New York attraction no one seems able to miss. From being mobbed at the airport to the autograph hounds parked outside his Times Square luxury hotel, it’s difficult for the 7-foot-4 future of professional basketball to navigate through the Big Apple without being the center of attention.
Fortunately for the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs and Wembanyama, he’s more than comfortable with all these eyes focused on him.
“Ever since I knew about the draft, exactly how it worked, I wanted to be first,” the 19-year-old Frenchman said Wednesday.
Thursday, he will be the unquestioned top pick in a draft who has observers saying things such as “transformational” ... “evolutionary” ... and “unseen.” He’s expected to save the Spurs by continuing to combine outlandish size with skills typically reserved for players much smaller.
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Although basketball people get drunk on expectations and projections every year at the NBA draft, this feels different — the kind of buzz that’s only accompanied the smallest handful of modern players.
Sometimes the attention and circus of the draft consumes a prospect. Other times, it’s a perfect prediction of what’s to come. For instance, it was 20 years ago when Cleveland selected LeBron James No. 1 overall.
Tom Tolbert, the former NBA player and ESPN analyst at the 2003 draft, wanted to get one point on record. In minutes, the Cleveland Cavaliers would pick James first on his then-employer’s network and the train already was barreling down the tracks.
James already had been on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline, “The Chosen One.” His high school games were televised on ESPN. Dick Vitale said, “I was so in awe watching him I thought I was watching a rock star.”
Tolbert wanted to pause, breathe and sit back.
“The only way he fails,” he said in 2003 with some measuring in his voice, “is if he fails to meet our expectations.”
Mike Tirico, the host that evening, didn’t want to fall victim to hyperbole. He wanted to keep matters in perspective but he also couldn’t ignore what he was witnessing.
“That night, it felt legit to hype it up. But you still hadn’t seen the guy play in college,” Tirico said Wednesday. “…LeBron hadn’t played against that level of competition. But he was so dominant that you were torn ... because every piece of evidence led to greatness.”
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The most lofty prediction that night came from Greg Anthony, who said James would be in the Hall of Fame if he stayed healthy.
Twenty years later, Tolbert, now a broadcaster who is a radio analyst for home Warriors games, said he didn’t want all those projections to immerse James and pressure fans into immediate judgments.
“My goodness. We’re already anointing this guy one of the greatest basketball players of all time before he even got to the NBA?” he remembered thinking. “…All I was trying to say was ‘Let’s just watch. …We don’t have to get the story before the story reveals itself.’ ”
There was backlash. Fans in New York chanted “overrated” when James was selected. He never was fazed, exceeding all praise he received on draft night to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
“He navigated it,” Tolbert said. “It’s amazing how mature he was at the age.”
“LeBron handled it all just fine,” Tirico said.
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The hype now is different. The NBA has seen other second-comings, some invented and some actualized. New York City buzzed in 2019 with Zion Williamson in town, the forward ready to become the next face of the league after the New Orleans Pelicans picked him first.
Four seasons later, his name has surfaced in trade rumors for the first time as injuries have defined his young career. This week in New York City with Wembanyama, possibilities seem a little different — even if the pressures are the same.
“He’s going to have the same kinds of expectations … and again, just enjoy this kid,” Tolbert said. “Watch him play. Watch him grow.”
Although the 2003 draft produced so many great players — Tirico, now with NBC, recalled that 27 picked that night spent at least 10 years in the NBA — there are threads that exist between James and this year’s projected top pick, Wembanyama. They’d been in the spotlight before the draft and kept delivering.
“There’s a connective tissue to their steps,” Tirico said.
James was in Las Vegas when Wembanyama first brought his game stateside, taking part in a two-game exhibition between his French pro team, Metropolitans 92, and the G-League Ignite. It was a made-for-scouts showdown between Wembanyama and guard Scoot Henderson, who assuredly will be a top-three selection Thursday.
Afterward, James was asked about Wembanyama and gave him a label that he’s carried to New York ahead of the draft.
“I think probably what everybody else thinks — everybody has been labeling this unicorn thing. Everybody has been a unicorn for the last two years, but he’s more like an alien. I’ve never seen — no one has ever seen — anyone as tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor. … His ability to put the ball on the floor, shoot step-back jumpers out of the post, step-back threes, catch-and-shoot threes, block shots. … He’s for sure a generational talent.”
There’s a cruelty, and maybe a little laziness, in focusing solely on Wembanyama‘s size. He’s clearly a multidimensional person with a load of charisma, the kind of kid who doesn’t shy from attention but drives conversations with strangers.
But, yes, he’s also incredibly tall.
Eric Mika was the opposing starting center that night in Las Vegas when roughly 200 NBA decision-makers, scouts and owners watched the future. One franchise (not the Spurs) had 18 employees credentialed.
Mika, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound big man, had met Wembanyama in France the year he was playing professionally in the prospect’s home country. Both were injured and did not play that night, but when they spoke postgame Mika found himself walking into a trap that he loathed.
“I couldn’t believe how big he is,” Mika remembered thinking. “I hate saying this because I hate when people say that to me, but I don’t ever feel small. And I felt really, really small shaking his hand after that game.”
Wembanyama rode the New York City subway Tuesday with his knees jetting up toward his neck when he sat. He tossed out the first pitch at the Yankees game, the baseball looking like a single pearl when he wrapped his hands around it.
He even published a post about the absurdity with just the letters “Lmaooooo” as a caption.
“Reminded me of the picture of Andre the Giant holding a beer can,” Tolbert said with a laugh.
If you’re looking for more reasons to believe in Wembanyama, they can be found in his comfortability with his unique dimensions and presence.
He strode into a special news conference room erected solely for him by greeting the media Wednesday with a big smile.
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“What’s up everyone?” he asked.
The ceiling inches above his head, the heights people perceive when talking potential.
“I’m trying to be the best,” he said, total confidence dripping off every word.
When he takes his long strides across the draft stage Thursday, he’ll move closer to that goal, just as James did 20 years ago.
“I think I started to realize I can be a professional basketball player at the age of only 12. … Tomorrow something’s gonna happen, something that I’ve been thinking for years and years.
“I can’t really describe how I feel right now. I just know I’m gonna have trouble sleeping tonight. For sure. And, yeah, I just feel really, really lucky.”
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