Victor Wembanyama Mega-Thread - For all your Wembanyama needs!

[G R E Y]

Wow big news:

Read on Twitter

He described to “L’Équipe” his decision as “difficult”, but “irrevocable”, during an interview.

As he said: “It would not be realistic in terms of development and not prudent in terms of health. I hope people will understand. It’s frustrating for me too. The France team is still central for me. I want to win as many titles as possible with the team. But I think it’s a necessary sacrifice”.

https://www.eurohoops.net/en/fibawc/1521730/victor-wembanyama-will-not-play-in-the-fiba-world-cup/

[ItsDanger]

Disappointing but not surprising, was hoping to see him match up with Canada.

[-Luke-]

Understandable decision. Played in the French league until mid June, now summer league, and then training camp and his first 82 game season. Can't play all the time. The time between summer league and training camp is his only chance to get some rest.

Hope to see a lot of him for the French national team in the future.

[leo7]

I was hoping to see Wemby vs Chet in the summer league. But whoever did the scheduling sucks.

[BadaBoom]

His summer schedule would have been pretty dense so it's understandable.
He mentions the risk of injuries but this will be there every summer and his yearly schedule will always be pretty intense due to the NBA high number of games, especially if you have one or two rounds of playoffs after the 82 games season.

Will see how it turns out for France on the long term, it would be a shame that we are robbed of a generational talent more often than not.
I'm personally totally OK for the players to choose what's best for them as long as they are transparent about it and don't commit before withdrawing at the last minute.

[Mirotic12]

NBA teams rarely let their draft picks play for a national team in the same summer they are drafted, especially in the case of first round picks.

[Pachinko_]

NBA teams rarely let their draft picks play for a national team in the same summer they are drafted, especially in the case of first round picks.

ΝΒΑ teams cannot tell players what to do with their free time. What are they gonna do, not pay him or not play him?
It never really comes down to that but ultimately it's the player's decision.

[Mirotic12]

NBA teams rarely let their draft picks play for a national team in the same summer they are drafted, especially in the case of first round picks.

ΝΒΑ teams cannot tell players what to do with their free time. What are they gonna do, not pay him or not play him?
It never really comes down to that but ultimately it's the player's decision.

So a 19 year old kid is just going to say no and make the Spurs mad, if they don't want him to play and make that very crystal clear to him? The same 19 year old kid that wants them to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars in the years ahead?

We already saw this in recent years with Jokic, Giannis, and Boban. The Euro media made it very clear why they were not playing, and it had nothing to do with the player's not wanting to play.

[Pachinko_]

So a 19 year old kid is just going to say no and make the Spurs mad, if they don't want him to play and make that very crystal clear to him? The same 19 year old kid that wants them to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars in the years ahead

Yeah. If he absolutely wants to go play he can go play, there's no contract that says we gonna tell you what to do and where to be in your free time. Like I said it never comes down to that, it's almost always a mutual decision between the player and the team.

The contract with the hundreds of millions is years away, and it will have nothing to do with how the player spends his summers. What? You think your #1 pick kicks butt but you not gonna sign him to an extension out of spite for playing for the NT 4 years ago?
The whole NBA wishes the Spurs were that stupid

[CIN-C-STAR]

NBA teams rarely let their draft picks play for a national team in the same summer they are drafted, especially in the case of first round picks.

ΝΒΑ teams cannot tell players what to do with their free time. What are they gonna do, not pay him or not play him?
It never really comes down to that but ultimately it's the player's decision.

So a 19 year old kid is just going to say no and make the Spurs mad, if they don't want him to play and make that very crystal clear to him? The same 19 year old kid that wants them to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars in the years ahead?

We already saw this in recent years with Jokic, Giannis, and Boban. The Euro media made it very clear why they were not playing, and it had nothing to do with the player's not wanting to play.

Manu played for his national team, through injury, against the wishes of the Spurs organization, and they got over it.
If he wanted to play he would play.
Those other guys prioritized generational wealth over their national team, and who can blame them? They didn't want to upset the cash cow.
But ultimately guys like Wemby can do what they want in this regard. It's not like the Spurs would cut him

[Mirotic12]

That rule that NBA teams can't block NBA players from playing with their national teams has a gigantic loophole. All any NBA team has to do to block a player from playing with his national team is to say that the player is injured or could potentially risk injury because their team doctors think that they have something wrong with them physically, which could in theory be something as common as a slightly sore or tender knee or shoulder, or whatever.

And yes, NBA teams have blocked players from playing with their national teams before, and claimed it was because they were injured. While the players themselves said they had no injuries and wanted to play, and their national team doctors said they had no injuries.

This has been well documented by European media to have happened numerous times. So the actual fact is that yes, NBA teams can block players from playing for their national teams.

Whether or not the Spurs did that Wemby is a different issue, and there are no reports so far to indicate that they did either. But it has definitely happened in the past, with the cases of Boban and Giannis in particular, being very much discussed in European media. US sports media shies away from reporting on it and just repeats that line that NBA teams can't block a player from playing with their national team, while leaving out the part that they can, as long as they just say the player might risk injury. But the cases of at least Boban and Giannis were all over European sports media.

[G R E Y]

Read on Twitter

The Spurs would have supported me whatever my choice. It would be unrealistic in terms of development and unwise in terms of health. I hope people will understand. It's frustrating for me too. But I think it's a necessary sacrifice.

From:

Read on Twitter

[Pachinko_]

That rule that NBA teams can't block NBA players from playing with their national teams has a gigantic loophole. All any NBA team has to do to block a player from playing with his national team is to say that the player is injured or could potentially risk injury because their team doctors think that they have something wrong with them physically, which could in theory be something as common as a slightly sore or tender knee or shoulder, or whatever.

And yes, NBA teams have blocked players from playing with their national teams before, and claimed it was because they were injured. While the players themselves said they had no injuries and wanted to play, and their national team doctors said they had no injuries.

This has been well documented by European media to have happened numerous times. So the actual fact is that yes, NBA teams can block players from playing for their national teams.

Whether or not the Spurs did that Wemby is a different issue, and there are no reports so far to indicate that they did either. But it has definitely happened in the past, with the cases of Boban and Giannis in particular, being very much discussed in European media. US sports media shies away from reporting on it and just repeats that line that NBA teams can't block a player from playing with their national team, while leaving out the part that they can, as long as they just say the player might risk injury. But the cases of at least Boban and Giannis were all over European sports media.

BS
If Giannis wants to play he can go and play, what are Bucks gonna do? Fire him?

[Mirotic12]

BS If Giannis wants to play he can go and play, what are Bucks gonna do? Fire him?

Then why did the Bucks claim he was injured and thus could not play at EuroBaseket 2017, while Giannis claimed he was not injured and and that he wanted to play?

[Heat_team02]

Wembanyama's catastrophic shooting series in his 'debut' with the Spurs: missed almost every one

Video

https://www.marca.com/en/basketball/nba/san-antonio-spurs/2023/06/27/649abb0f268e3ea6128b4589.html

[Bornstellar]

Wembanyama's catastrophic shooting series in his 'debut' with the Spurs: missed almost every one

Video

https://www.marca.com/en/basketball/nba/san-antonio-spurs/2023/06/27/649abb0f268e3ea6128b4589.html

I think I'll take his entire body of work as proof versus him putting on a jersey and shooting around in an empty gym for a few minutes

[durden_tyler]

So a 19 year old kid is just going to say no and make the Spurs mad, if they don't want him to play and make that very crystal clear to him? The same 19 year old kid that wants them to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars in the years ahead

Yeah. If he absolutely wants to go play he can go play, there's no contract that says we gonna tell you what to do and where to be in your free time. Like I said it never comes down to that, it's almost always a mutual decision between the player and the team.

The contract with the hundreds of millions is years away, and it will have nothing to do with how the player spends his summers. What? You think your #1 pick kicks butt but you not gonna sign him to an extension out of spite for playing for the NT 4 years ago?
The whole NBA wishes the Spurs were that stupid

Hahaha. Yeah, he can’t play because he’s now at the mercy of pissing off his NBA team. We all get that already.

Sometimes, $ just is a better for playing for the Flag. Career over Country. It’s as simple as that oft times.

[Mirotic12]

Hahaha. Yeah, he can’t play because he’s now at the mercy of pissing off his NBA team. We all get that already.

Sometimes, $ just is a better for playing for the Flag. Career over Country. It’s as simple as that oft times.

Again, FIBA covers all the player's contracts. It's been that way for years now.

[Pachinko_]

BS If Giannis wants to play he can go and play, what are Bucks gonna do? Fire him?

Then why did the Bucks claim he was injured and thus could not play at EuroBaseket 2017, while Giannis claimed he was not injured and and that he wanted to play?

Eh miscommunication, they got their stories wrong or something

[maradro]

Hahaha. Yeah, he can’t play because he’s now at the mercy of pissing off his NBA team. We all get that already.

Sometimes, $ just is a better for playing for the Flag. Career over Country. It’s as simple as that oft times.

Again, FIBA covers all the player's contracts. It's been that way for years now.

the same thing happens in soccer, FIBA&FIFA insurance may cover the cost of that contract but that wont help you secure your next one. really good players, franchises will accomodate them but even then its quite common for accusations to fly from club medical staff to NT staff, playing too many minutes etc.. And it happens in the NBA too, yao and manu for example got more heat from their (NBA club) fans for playing on their NT, than team USA players ever get (for them its the opposite, they get criticized for not playing). players that dont have that kind of clout absolutely feel the pressure to prioritize their contract over NT play...

context matters, he is a young kid making a big change, hes got more than enough on his plate right now and if he feels his body wont hold up he is doing the smart thing, preparing for the future..