The house, sheltered behind a low wall, would be discreet if it weren’t for this American flag which flies on top of a mast, proudly planted in front of the entrance. Worcester, on the outskirts of Boston, in the northeast of the United States, is a peaceful city with its single-storey pavilions and its green lawns revived by the showers of this month of June. ” Good morning “, launches the owner, with the “r” which scrapes the palate, in the French way.

Bob Cousy, 94, is a delight for neurologists passionate about the mysteries of memory: arrived in New York “in the stomach” of his Burgundian mother, in 1927, the American spoke, until he was 5 years old, only the language of Maurice Chevalier, before erasing it in favor of English. Nearly a century later, his rare reminiscences of French come out without the slightest accent. “I speak like a Parisian”, have fun, in french, the old man.

Robert Joseph Cousy – his full name – invites you to sit in the office, where the feet of his walker sink into a thick pink carpet. A library full of trophies, medals and old magazine covers sits behind him. The exhibition celebrates his career: that of the first star of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the American basketball league.

He derails in front of the camera

For thirteen years, from 1950 to 1963, “Cooz”, as fans still call him, enchanted the franchise – a term used in the United States to designate a club – the Boston Celtics, winning six NBA championship titles. The press at the time adored this small white man, 1.85 meters thick as a cyclist, ambidextrous and twirling, nicknamed “Houdini” – a reference to the famous magician –, because of his unpredictable style of play. A legend, received at the White House by eight American presidents since Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961). The leader was even entitled, in 1962, to a private audience with Pope John XXIII, at the Vatican.

Forty years later, in 2001, retired Bob Cousy welcomed a team from the sports channel ESPN to his home. The latter is preparing a report devoted to her ex-teammate Bill Russell, who has become “the” unsurpassable legend of the Celtics, eleven league titles – an unmatched record – and five best player in the league. Cousy is used to tirelessly repeating the same anecdotes in front of the media.

But, that day, he derails in front of the camera. Tears well up in his eyes, preventing him from speaking. “What is happening to me? », he wonders. The following days, the question obsessed him, before a word imposed itself to describe his disorder: guilt. At the end of his life, the former sportsman regrets not having reached out, at the time, to this teammate who would have needed it. Bill Russell, who died in 2022, was black.

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New York, June 22. The curtain has not yet risen on the Barclays Center, a modern basketball hall whose patinated steel facade symbolizes the renewal of the Brooklyn district. The eye never rests in this arena saturated with lights and giant screens. Neither does the ear. The crowd of 17,000 spectators, heated by beer, maintains a hubbub of impatience, against a backdrop of hip-hop. In less than an hour begins the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft, the annual evening during which the most promising talents in international basketball are chosen to join American clubs.

Twenty-five players, accompanied by their families and agents, occupy the greenroom, offered to the gaze of the public, in front of the stage. A term borrowed from the actors’ waiting rooms, from the theatre. It is “the” evening of their (young) life – they are all between 18 and 22 years old. Months, years they wait to join the most prestigious basketball championship in the world.

The invitation to sit here rewards their prowess but does not represent the end of the road: they must still be selected by one of the league’s thirty franchises – a term used across the Atlantic to designate clubs. According to tradition, the worst-placed teams during the past season, then ranked according to a weighted lottery, have the opportunity to pick the first from the list of candidates. A way of rebalancing the forces present each year.

future millionaires

Exotic from a European point of view, the show is an essential event in American sports culture, as old as the NBA, whose creation dates back to 1946. It also exists in baseball, hockey or football (in its version from across the Atlantic). A sort of rite of passage for aspiring professionals, invited to follow one another on the stage, like graduates fresh from university, to be presented with a cap bearing the logo of their new employer.

Crying, hugs… the empathy machine is then running at full speed, live on the sports channel ESPN, as well as on ABC, one of the three main networks in the United States. The opportunity for these future millionaires, invited to present themselves in civilian clothes, to display their taste – often flashy – for undermining and rhinestones.

This 2023 edition could go down in history for reasons other than an affront to elegance. The explanation lies in one name: Victor Wembanyama, whom the Texas team of San Antonio Spurs chose in first position. Never had a Frenchman been selected at this level. Above all, the potential of the young man of 19 years feeds all the fantasies. Experts have been wondering for months: is he the most anticipated player in NBA history, the equivalent of a Michael Jordan or a LeBron James? The unprecedented talent of this 2.22 meter giant, who can shoot, dribble and run like a “small” 1.90 meter, will he revolutionize the game? The answer doesn’t really matter. The only thing that counts is waiting, this engine of desire.

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His season ends on a good individual note before his real big debut in the prestigious NBA championship in October. Despite his team’s defeat (85-80), French basketball player Victor Wenbanyama, chosen number one by the San Antonio Spurs in the recent draft, lit up the disputed Summer League meeting on Sunday July 9 in Las Vegas against Portland.

With 27 points on the clock, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks in twenty-seven minutes, the 19-year-old French interior, black jersey, name and number 1 flocked in white on the back, raised the bar after a first performance with the franchise lackluster Texas, a few days earlier.

Freed from accumulated pressure all season, especially since his arrival in the world of the NBA, the Spurs player corrected the target on shots with a nice 9 out of 14, much sharper than the 2 out of 13 made on Friday.

Read also: Basketball: mixed performance from Frenchman Victor Wembanyama for his debut with San Antonio

A symbol share

This somewhat disappointing performance had raised some questions about its future adaptation. “I felt lost on the floor”had conceded the tricolor prodigy.

Sunday, on the other hand, he convinced everyone. Some inaccuracies remained in the first quarter, within a weak Spurs team, but the Frenchman made the choice to approach the basket, with authority.

At the start of the third quarter, an action symbolized the overflowing activity of the player on Sunday: missed shot, offensive rebound, close shot, basket with the fault as a bonus. The desire was there, the smiles also from the thousands of spectators in the Thomas and Mack Center room.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Victor Wembanyama: his “legendary day” at the San Antonio Spurs

“Really need a rest”

On Saturday, during a communication operation with the legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (best player in the league six times in the 1970s and 1980s), the interior had mentioned this delicate adaptation. “I’m just a rookie [“débutant”], I still have to learn everything. I didn’t really know what I was doing [lors du premier match]and the next games, I probably won’t know either… It will come with time”Wembanyama said, also recalling his young age: “I’m like a kid right now, but I’m ready to learn. »

“You have things to learn, but we feel that you are a smart young man, and you will get there”had abounded the former pivot to the six championship titles, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who must have appreciated the performance of the Frenchman on Sunday.

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Victor Wembanyama will continue to work this summer and breathe, too. “I feel that I really need a rest”, he said on Friday. His season is probably finally over, since he refused to participate in the World Cup with the Blues. Now up to the NBA: “For me the real first, it will be in October”has projected himself the most anticipated player of the next season.

The signal sent by Spurs with the extension of legendary coach Gregg Popovich for the next five years has been received. “It’s a sign from him and the franchise that they are counting on this project”enjoyed the prodigy, Sunday.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers NBA Draft: Victor Wembanyama from every angle

The World with AFP

History will remember – and many predict it unique and glorious – that Victor Wembanyama suffered in his first game for the San Antonio Spurs. The French basketball prodigy provided a contrasting performance, Friday July 7, for his first with the Texas team, however winner of the Charlotte Hornets (76-68) in the Summer League in Las Vegas, where the spectators had no eyes only for him.

The 19-year-old Frenchman, drafted number one by San Antonio on June 22, scored 9 points and collected 8 rebounds in 27 minutes for his first game with the Texas franchise. The former Boulogne-Levallois Mets player was struggling on shots, posting a 2 out of 13 success (including 1 out of 6 from three points), but he was more to his advantage in defense, inflicting five blocks, well helped by its immense size (2.24 meters).

“It was a special moment to wear this shirt for the first time. I dreamed of a victory and I had it”savored Victor Wembanyama at a press conference.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers NBA: at the San Antonio Spurs, Victor Wembanyama takes over from Tony Parker

put the price

A real “Wembamania” has accompanied him since his arrival in the United States: posters, flocked jerseys of his number 1, interviews… “Wemby” is the main attraction of the Summer League and is considered the greatest hope since a certain LeBron James, who readily describes him as” extraterrestrial “.

Nearly 18,000 spectators flocked to his first steps in this summer tournament, which NBA teams take advantage of to launch their recruits, line up young players in the making or veterans looking for a contract.

To get a ticket and have the privilege of attending the event on Friday, you had to go through resale, provided you pay the price. According to a spokesperson for Gametime, a company specializing in resale, quoted by the American media TMZ Sports, the prices ” go up to 617 dollars per seat [environ 560 euros] » to see French, for a fee “around $40 [un peu plus de 36 euros] » for most other matches.

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When entering the room to warm up, the interior received a standing ovation from the public, phones out. On the floor, with each ball taken, he captivated the audience. But it exploded, despite himself, when the opposing pivot Kai Jones (7 points) flew above him to dunk above his head.

“Unfortunately, I was sometimes a little off the game plan, I had trouble reacting to the initiatives of my teammates. I didn’t really have time to adapt.”analyzed the Frenchman, lucid about his performance.

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The interior missed its first three attempts before making its first basket after a few minutes, causing the room to roar.

The Britney Spears Affair

A little over three months from his official debut in the regular season, Victor Wembanyama has yet to show the extent of his talent. But the weeks preceding this match could have been stressful for the Yvelines giant: from praise from superstars to his selection by Spurs, to dinners with San Antonio legends – Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili or his compatriot Tony Parker, who made the glory of the Texas franchise −, until the recent Britney Spears affair. The American singer says she received a slap from a player’s bodyguard when she told him “tapped on the shoulder” for the “congratulations on his success”at the entrance to a hotel restaurant.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Victor Wembanyama: his “legendary day” at the San Antonio Spurs

This first meeting of the Summer League was also an opportunity to see the numbers 1 and 2 of the last draft compete, since the strong winger Brandon Miller experienced his first with the Hornets, experiencing the same shooting difficulties as his opponent (5 out of 15) despite 16 points.

This fervor and this pressure, Wembanyama will be able to taste it again on Sunday, with a second friendly match against Portland. And, after this mixed introduction, his gestures will be scrutinized, his statistics dissected, his attitude analyzed. The great NBA circus has only just begun for the Frenchman.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The night Victor Wembanyama, number one in the draft, joined the big NBA circus

The World with AFP

The coach of the French basketball team, Vincent Collet, unveiled, on Wednesday June 28, the list of players selected to compete in the Basketball World Cup, which will take place from August 25 to September 10 in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.

If the new star of the San Antonio Spurs, Victor Wembanyama, will not be traveling, the France team will still be able to rely on experienced executives, in this case Nando De Colo, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Gobert. The first two had given up on Euro 2022 – France had been defeated by Spain in the final – to spare themselves.

It is “two very important returns, experienced players who were part of previous adventures, two of the leaders of the Olympic team who brought back the silver from Tokyo. They will help us find the binder that we lost a little last year.underlined Vincent Collet.

Without Embiid and Wembanyama

Victor Wembanyama, just “drafted” in first position by the Texas franchise, announced on Monday that he would ignore the competition to focus on his first NBA season to come, even though he had proclaimed his desire to play this World Cup with the Blues.

Read the picture: Article reserved for our subscribers Victor Wembanyama, the French basketball star under the NBA spotlight

” We tried [de le faire changer d’avis] but there are a lot of issues around him”commented Vincent Collet in the program “Tout le sport” on France 3. “He has entered into a new life and I believe that there are fears in relation to the sequence of the championship this year, the eventual competition this summer and then a first season in the NBA with enormous expectations. This is the reason why he declined this selection. »

The Franco-Cameroonian pivot Joel Embiid, best player of the last NBA regular season, another notable absentee from this list, “still don’t know if he wants to” to play for the France team, said Blues manager Boris Diaw on Wednesday.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers NBA: Joel Embiid crowned MVP, a coronation for the Cameroonian player

France leads him an assiduous court, but faces fierce competition from the United States. “I am in contact with his representatives. There’s nothing new: he still doesn’t know which national team he wants to play for.”, said Boris Diaw. Joel Embiid recently acquired French and American nationalities.

Several surprises

In order to densify the interior sector, the list of twelve names unveiled on Wednesday also includes interior Mathias Lessort, who is coming out of a brilliant Euroleague season with Partizan Belgrade (he has since signed at Panathinaikos, in Greece). Second best scorer and best rebounder in the competition, he can play as a strong winger and pivot. As a result, Real Madrid pivot Vincent Poirier, an important player in the rotation at the Olympic tournament two years ago in Tokyo, was not selected.

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We can note several surprises among the back lines, in particular at the position of leader, with Sylvain Francisco (Peristeri, in Greece) preferred to Andrew Albicy and Killian Hayes, and, at the position of winger, with Yakuba Ouattara, captain of Monaco, recent champion of France.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Basketball: the French team, beaten by Spain, does not give up its (great) future ambitions

Pocket leader (1.79 m) explosive, Sylvain Francisco (25) will participate in his first international competition, after having helped the team to qualify for the World Cup, playing his six matches with the Blues during the qualifications, end 2022 and early 2023.

A time tipped to join the group, veteran Rodrigue Beaubois (35, Efes Istanbul) will ultimately not honor his first selection.

The France team, bronze medalists at the 2019 World Cup in China, was placed in group H with Canada, Latvia and Lebanon. She will play her first round – and the second if qualified – in Jakarta (Indonesia), before possibly heading to Pasay City (Philippines) for the quarter-finals and the rest of the competition.

The list of 12 Blues selected for the 2023 Basketball World Cup

Leaders and guards: Nando de Colo (Asvel), Frank Ntilikina (Dallas Mavericks, United States), Sylvain Francisco (Peristeri, Greece), Elie Okobo (Monaco).

Wingers: Evan Fournier (New York Knicks, USA), Yakuba Ouattara (Monaco), Nicolas Batum (Los Angeles Clippers, USA), Terry Tarpey (Monaco).

Interiors: Guerschon Yabusele (Real Madrid, Spain), Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves, USA), Moustapha Fall (Olympiacos, Greece), Mathias Lessort (Panathinaikos, Greece).

The World with AFP

It was certainly not the desired metal in preparation for the tournament, but the French basketball team was rewarded with the bronze medal, Sunday June 25, by winning 82 to 68 in the match for the third place of the Eurobasket against Hungary. Defeated by Belgium the day before (67-63), Les Bleues have preserved an impressive series of eight consecutive medals in continental competition since 2009.

Read also: Women’s basketball Euro: Les Bleues lose in the semi-final against Belgium

Disappointed with their elimination in the last four, they who had reached the final in the last five editions, the French women dominated their opponents of the day from the start, ending the first quarter with a score of 26 to 8.

After a tighter second act, and a third quarter won by the Hungarians, Jean-Aimé Toupane’s players were pushed to solidify their defense. A paying strategy, to the detriment of the tricolor offensive sector.

Still looking for a title

Captain Sarah Michel did not score any points and the best scorer in the history of Les Bleues, Sandrine Gruda, an unfortunate little unit during this small final. The first played only seven minutes, and the second was in a less good day, the day of her 36th birthday. At the end of the match, she confided in the microphone of beIN Sports: “Playing this game was torture. I didn’t have the energy, the desire to play for that place. »

A rare situation, which notably benefited Montpellier’s Mamignan Touré, second scorer (20 points) behind the pivot of the Magyars, Virg Kiss (21 points on the clock).

In search of a title since 2009, and the victory of Eurobasket against Russia, the “Braqueuses” have still not found heirs, one year from the 2024 Olympic Games. A goal that veteran Sandrine Gruda always has in mind, she who would like to conclude her international career next summer: “The idea is to stop after the Paris Games. But the body must follow. »

Until then, the France team, made up of inexperienced players, will have time to erase its weak points, which will be eagerly awaited at home.

The “Wembymania” took on yet another dimension this weekend. Acclaimed the day before by more than 300 people on his arrival at San Antonio airport, Victor Wembanyama, Saturday morning, June 24, paraded and took a crowd bath at the Riverwalk, in the heart of this Texas city. The place, a sort of pedestrianized promenade full of shops, was adorned with Spurs logos for the presentation to the supporters of the two rookies (beginners) French, Sidy Cissoko and Victor Wembanyama, therefore.

“I was always told about the San Antonio Spurs. It is probably the most important franchise in the history of French basketball.explains the 19-year-old player, on a stage set up for the occasion, while a photo of his young years, Nanterre era, is projected with the Spurs jersey on his shoulders.

Drafted in first place at the Barclays Center in New York on Thursday, Victor Wembanyama is already more than just a player for the Texas franchise. Spurs’ other two first draft picks, in 1987 with David Robinson and in 1997 with Tim Duncan, hadn’t sparked such madness in this city of 1.5 million people. Between a few Summer League matches and probably the World Cup (from August 25 to September 10, in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines), Victor Wembanyama will not have much time to discover this former Mexican city, very Catholic and already crazy about him.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers The night Victor Wembanyama, number one in the draft, joined the big NBA circus

Candles representing “Wemby” in Christ and several murals gradually appeared in the streets. “The Wemby Burger”, made with foie gras and sold for 1 dollar on the day of the draft, or even a drink called “The Alien” were popular in San Antonio. “These last seventy-two hours have been a compendium of incredible emotions for Victornotes Bouna N’Diaye, one of the Frenchman’s two agents. Spurs fans didn’t know him but they welcomed him like he was a member of the family. Everything is like a dream, really. »

“I want to make an impression”

Following in the footsteps of Tony Parker and Boris Diaw at Spurs, Victor Wembanyama was able, very furtively, to discover the facilities of the AT & T Center (18,500 seats). Before he appeared on the floor for his first words to the local press, the room was plunged into darkness. A music video, featuring some of his best deeds and poignant messages from loved ones, was then projected onto the room’s cube.

Presented to the press in near-anonymity – only Spurs employees and their families were able to attend the event – ​​the former Boulogne-Levallois Mets player was received with dignity by the franchise. “It’s a legendary day for Spurs”insisted Jordan Howenstine, one of the seven press officers of the franchise, in the introduction.

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The step was a little too high for the Bleues du basket. The French women logically lost to the Belgian Cats, Saturday June 24, in the semi-final of the Eurobasket (67-63) in the Arena Stozice in Ljublana. Overwhelmed from the start by a diligent Belgian team, Jean-Aimé Toupane’s players struggled to get rid of the pressure put on them by their opponents, falling logically behind at the break (44-30) after a marked first period. by the insolent success of the Belgians behind the racket.

Handicapped by a sluggish defense, absent on defensive rebounds, Sandrine Gruda and her teammates seemed overwhelmed by the challenge. A situation, which the tricolor captain, Sarah Michel, lucidly analyzed at half-time: “If we limit offensive rebounds, we are on par with them. »

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Euro women’s basketball: the Blue want to confirm their rise in power, in the semi-finals against their Belgian rivals

But on leaving the locker room, if the defensive setbacks of the Bleues disappeared, Belgium, with a workforce perfectly oiled by their coach Rachid Meziane, in turn managed to turn their backs. A strategy made possible by the tireless pivot Emma Meesseman, again author of a major performance (24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists).

The end of a series

Les Bleues however knew who they were dealing with, the Belgians arrived in Slovenia with the status of favorites, among the most attractive European teams. By stopping at the last four stage, the French team thus puts an end, just over twelve months before the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, to a series of five consecutive qualifications in the Eurobasket final (2013, 2015 , 2017, 2019, 2021) the European title has eluded French players since 2009. A serious challenge for the Tokyo bronze medalists who had made this Eurobasket their first step towards Olympic gold.

Lucid about the performance of his team, the coach of the French, Jean-Aimé Toupane, drew up a simple observation at the microphone of France 4: “We didn’t do the right thing. We showed in the second half that we could play them. But the game should have started in the first half. We missed a lot of things, on the defensive aspect, we were not up to our standards. »

Victorious on Saturday against Les Bleues, Belgium, in the final for the first time in its Eurobasket history, will face Spain on Sunday evening, who fell earlier in the day against Hungary (69-60). Which will face France the same day, for the gain of the third place.

Will the atmosphere in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Saturday June 23, have a flavor of the Football World Cup? Five years after Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann – at the 2018 World Cup – the French women’s basketball team faces Belgium for a place in the final of an international competition.

A major challenge awaits Sandrine Gruda and her partners on the Arena Stozice floor, in what will be their eighth consecutive continental semi-final. Eliminated from the World Cup in 2018 by the Belgians Cats, the Blues would have nothing against a revenge.

But, unlike the French team, sluggish in the group stage, the Belgians have made a very strong impression since the start of the competition. They easily won three times in the first round (against Israel, the Czech Republic and Italy), then beat the defending champions Serbia in the quarter-finals (93-53).

Aware that “the adversary will not be the same” only for the quarter-finals, where France left little hope to Montenegro (90-46), the tricolor coach, Jean-Aimé Toupane, bet on the physical power of his players to rally a sixth continental final of in a row.

“From the start, the team has progressed”

If it won all of its matches, the France team had a sluggish start to the tournament, weakened by the absence of its two main offensive weapons (Marine Johannès and Gabby Williams). “Since the beginning, the team has progressed”, insisted Jean-Aimé Toupane, the coach of Les Bleues, before the quarter-final. Confident, he recalled that “we have already seen teams start slowly and finish very strong”. The game of his players against the Montenegrins proved him right.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Euro 2023 women’s basketball: Blue thirsty for gold

Despite the absence of interior Iliana Rupert – injured in the shoulder against Slovenia – the French team easily disposed of Montenegro. Carried by a solid interior sector and a formidable address, the Blue regained, in this quarter-final, their collective fluidity.

They will need it against their next opponent. “It could have been a final”, observes interior tricolor Janelle Salaun. Belgium is no longer the “surprise” team of the 2018 World Cup, sure of their strength, the teammates of Emma Meesseman, formidable since the start of the competition, are “comes for a medal”insisted the leader Julie German.

Far from being affected by the last three defeats against Les Bleues (one at Euro 2019 and two in friendly matches in 2022), Rachid Meziane’s protégés are playing their basketball game – like the triple double (15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) of Meesseman in the quarter-finals.

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Tradition has it that the NBA draft, in France, is called a “lottery”. But the show that saw Victor Wembanyama be chosen in first position, Thursday, June 22, by the San Antonio Spurs, among the young talents wishing to join the famous American basketball league, was more circus games. A room of 17,000 people – the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn (New York) – with an overheated atmosphere. Players placed in the middle of the arena, with their families, like prey thrown at the mercy of the cameras and an audience quick to cheer, boo, or simply ignore.

Read the picture: Article reserved for our subscribers Victor Wembanyama, the French basketball star under the NBA spotlight

Long minutes of waiting, above all, before the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, decides the fate of each lucky elected by calling him to go up on the stage and wear the cap of the franchise where will write its future, whether it is in New York, Los Angeles, or deep in Oklahoma.

In the case of Victor Wembanyama, there was no suspense. The Frenchman, dubbed a generational talent by basketball’s celebrities and seasoned pundits, knew he’d land in Texas ever since Spurs were awarded the privilege of picking in May. first a player among the candidates, aged 18 to 22. Never had a Frenchman been selected at such a level.

The most popular first name

What was uncertain, however, was the degree of emotion that would accompany this announcement. Throughout the year, the NBA has deployed its marketing acumen so that the former pivot of Boulogne-Levallois becomes a desirable product in the eyes of fans around the world. Even before joining the league, the phenomenon was in the top 10 of the most viewed players on NBA social networks. Efforts that have borne fruit, “Victor” having been the first name most chanted by the audience.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers NBA Draft: Victor Wembanyama from every angle

Spurs-themed shirts and caps dominated the Barclays Center. Some spectators had no hesitation in making the trip from Texas to attend an event experienced as a turning point in the history of their franchise. Others, less numerous – around twenty – had paid 3,000 dollars (2,740 euros) to benefit from the privilege of having dinner with their new idol. A feast organized Wednesday, at the headquarters of the NBA. Robert Holcomb, a serious-looking lawyer despite the Spurs cap on his head, came out charmed by the qualities of the 19-year-old man, described as mature and intelligent. “He told us about his grandmother’s soup, recounted the smell, the taste, the scene it evoked for him; it was very poetic”marvels the American, who had never heard of Marcel Proust’s aunt’s madeleines.

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