NBA
No. 1 Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama desires to ‘beat Team USA’ in 2024 Paris Olympics
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated25 May 2023
French basketball sensation Victor Wembanyama is almost done with his season in Europe, and almost ready to head for the NBA Draft in June, as he’s expected to be the No. 1 overall pick and should head to lottery winners in San Antonio.
If he actually ends up starting his career under legendary coach Gregg Popovich in the Spurs squad, he’d be following the footsteps of yet another former French star, Tony Parker. The 19-year-old is already creating huge waves of expectation over his arrival and future performances.
However, Wembanyama’s ambitions exceedes us all, as the rising star is already thinking about the 2024 Olympics to be held in Paris, as he recently said that his dream would be to beat the United States in the final match.
According to ESPN’s Sam Borden, the seven-foot-four athlete desires to win France’s first Olympic gold medal in basketball.
“You know the Olympics are in Paris in 2024,” Wembanyama told French broadcaster Pascal Giberné. “And there could be no more perfect occasion for me to win my first title with the French national team.”
“My goal,” he assured, “is to beat Team USA in the final.”
As next year would finally be the first chance for him to represent his native country at the world’s biggest stage, you can understand why he would want to defeat the United States team.
Not only is Team USA the country to beat in basketball, but three years ago they won against France in the Final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. So more than just fair ambition, he’s out for revenge!
Basketball stars believe that before comparing Wembanyama, he must prove himself in the NBA
Just as Wembanyama was witnessing the NBA lottery draft with his family and friends, he described watching the Spurs take the No. 1 pick as “a really special moment” before saying, “I want to win a ring, ASAP.”
“My heart is beating. I got everyone I love, everyone I know around me. I’m going to remember (this) for the rest of my life,” he expressed.
Even though Wembanyama is yet to cross the Atlantic Ocean and set foot in a NBA court, numerous debates have been unleashed prematurely comparing the 19-year-old to standing legends such as LeBron James.
Many basketball athletes around the league believe that it’s still not time for comparisons. Portland star Damian Lillard, for example, thinks that LeBron’s hype was much bigger than the French’s.
“I was in 7th grade when they was Hyping bron on ESPN! Mf still at the top 20 years later…stop playing with dude bra…it’s getting outa pocket,” the Blazers point guard tweeted last week.
The Lakers superstar, on the other hand, only had words of praise for the 19-year-old. “Everybody has been a unicorn over the last few years, but he’s more like an alien. No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor,” he said.
“At (his size), his ability to put the ball on the floor, shoot step-back jumpers out of the post, step-back threes, catch-and-shoot threes and block shots. He’s for sure a generational talent.”
