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

[bullsaficianado]

TMZ published a full video of the incident:

https://www.tmz.com/2023/07/07/britney-spears-slap-video-victor-wembanyama-vegas/

The security guard should be fired it's not Wemby's fault. This is really bad PR for him and Spurs so him and Britney should arrange some kind of meeting to bury the hatchet even if it is not his fault again bad PR.

[Medbrat]

Not 1 game in - already 2 red flags...

[Ballerhogger]

He’s no Lebron James that’s for sure .

Watch on YouTube

[zimpy27]

Yeah the comps to LeBron are ridiculous. No young prospect needs to be compared to a guy that had GOAT standards and exceeded expectations.

[KillMonger]

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[madvillian]

Read on Twitter

I don't know if this honesty policy is going to be great for him with the media long term. It's a bad look that he came off as a bit arrogant talking about the incident with Spears (even though he wasn't at all at fault he should have offered something other than "I didn't see it".) and now he's admitting to be in, what from all appearances, looked to be awful shape.

Maybe he should have just said he was a little under the weather and will bounce back next game while still working towards his fall camp goals.

Just nitpicking, but people are going to nitpick the hell out of this kid. With great expectations comes great scrutiny. It's what made Lebron and MJs careers so amazing in a lot of ways, always beating the expectations while maintaining an incredible relation with the media and fans in general.

[Pachinko_]

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I don't know if this honesty policy is going to be great for him with the media long term. It's a bad look that he came off as a bit arrogant talking about the incident with Spears (even though he wasn't at all at fault he should have offered something other than "I didn't see it".) and now he's admitting to be in, what from all appearances, looked to be awful shape.

Maybe he should have just said he was a little under the weather and will bounce back next game while still working towards his fall camp goals.

Just nitpicking, but people are going to nitpick the hell out of this kid. With great expectations comes great scrutiny. It's what made Lebron and MJs careers so amazing in a lot of ways, always beating the expectations while maintaining an incredible relation with the media and fans in general.

Yeah sure, but it's not his responsibility to worry about "people" and "media".
Players have gone years and years without giving a **** about either, and then got the supermax LOL

[CobraCommander]

She was trying to get a photo with Wemby and tapped/grabbed him on the shoulder. He was involved but not to blame. He doesn’t need to apologize for anything here.

No one owes her an apology-

You think this is the first person slapped by security when someone touched the vip?

Living in dc...trust me...run up yelling some vips name in a British accent....touch said vip from behind after infiltration of the security bubble...you will be hit...

They don’t have time to figure out if she has a weapon-

You think security details in DC slap people? As a DCer sounds to me like you live in Maryland.

It’s a decent analogy otherwise though because part of the DC security detail job is to know who other VIPs are so they don’t make dumb and embarrassing mistakes like this one.

I live in fairfax but from OxonHill and they actually tackle you if you actually put hands on the vip.

But keep living in the pretend world wear people CAN put hands on people uninvited - (text book battery)

[CobraCommander]

TMZ published a full video of the incident:

https://www.tmz.com/2023/07/07/britney-spears-slap-video-victor-wembanyama-vegas/

The security guard should be fired it's not Wemby's fault. This is really bad PR for him and Spurs so him and Britney should arrange some kind of meeting to bury the hatchet even if it is not his fault again bad PR.

Wasn’t much oF a slap...it was more of a “back up *****’” kinda thing...

After review it’s a common foul...no tech...play on playa

[DoctorX]

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I don't know if this honesty policy is going to be great for him with the media long term. It's a bad look that he came off as a bit arrogant talking about the incident with Spears (even though he wasn't at all at fault he should have offered something other than "I didn't see it".) and now he's admitting to be in, what from all appearances, looked to be awful shape.

Maybe he should have just said he was a little under the weather and will bounce back next game while still working towards his fall camp goals.

Just nitpicking, but people are going to nitpick the hell out of this kid. With great expectations comes great scrutiny. It's what made Lebron and MJs careers so amazing in a lot of ways, always beating the expectations while maintaining an incredible relation with the media and fans in general.

As A spurs fan I learned with both Manu and Parker that euros tend to be very honest about how they feel and the game. It drove me nuts at times when those 2 were very honest with the media about certain things such as Manu telling the media after losing game 6 to Miami that the team's spirit was crushed.

The other thing I learned from those 2 there is a language barrier since both of those guys first language wasn't English so when they said things it could come across as offensive when it wasn't meant to be offensive. They just didn't know how to say it in a better way since English isn't their first langue. This mainly applied to Tony more so than Manu.

I expect Wemby to make mistakes in interviews but to me it's not a deal breaker. I think the kid has good intentions but at times he will come across as arrogant or lacking awareness simply because he's 19 and also due to English not being his native tongue. There is also cultural norms he's going to have to adjust to in America compared to what is the norm in France which can cause him to lack awareness at times in interviews.

[lambchop]

he's going to have to be mentally tough as every player in the league is going to have their matchup with him as their super bowl on a nightly basis. with his lack of natural offense at the moment, he's going to have some adversity to battle through.

I doubt players care about facing him, except those in his draft and rookie class. Guys like Curry, LBJ, Jokic etc. don't have games against him as some kind priority.

That said, people on this forum were calling him a top 10 nba player already lol.

[lambchop]

Well, 2 things

a) he looks exhausted out there, I don't know if it's lingering jet lag and the back and forth between Nike/SA househunting/Las Vegas or what, but he better get used to it because that's how NBA is.

b) I get what he's saying about staying slim, it must be nice to cover all this ground effortlessly with his light frame. But I think he will soon be tired of picking himself up off the floor so often. Hit the weight room and the proteins Wemby, it's gonna be a long year.

The exhaustion is surprising to me cause that usually starts midway through the season, not in the summer league.

As for staying slim, it seems as though he wants to model his game around a player like KD. But I to do that you need to about top 10 to 15 in making contested and open shots. He'll probably need to look something like 2004 amare stoudemire who had decent muscle mass but wasn't muscle bound.

[MasterIchiro]

I let the stratospheric expectations sink in with me.

I thought he'd shred through SL making his peers look like middle school players in PE class.

The game is so much faster and stronger now even as bodies grow bigger.

At what point in his trajectory is he going to escape the perimeter?

Kai Jones had a similar weak body in high school. It took him 4 years just to stay on the court as C3. You just can't throw Wemby out there in the starting lineup. Are you not allowed to look at players in France the wrong way or it's a foul? Nic Batum always played like he was so afraid of contact. He often went invisible in avoiding the action. Wemby has unreal confidence but may need multiple years building NBA strength. He really gets pushed around and for a number 1 pick to get bullied... Shocking how much work is ahead of a player who arrived with so much hype.

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[Scalaboner]

I think Wembanyama needs to definitely focus on either bulking up to play his game more on the inside, or seriously work on his shooting so he can be a shooter more akin to KD. Him saying how exhausted he was going to the bench i think shows how hard players in the NBA play and every game will be a grind his rookie year. This kid has played a total of 86 games in his career overseas. ONE regular season in the NBA is 82 games. We all need to remember he is still a kid and going against players larger than him will take a toll, so i dont expect him to be a top player off the bat like many are hyping him to be and i dont think its fair for him to have such hype at this point

[ItsDanger]

Conditioning inadequate,not strong enough, questionable shot, post game isn't good. Offensively its a work in progress. Defensively he can make an immediate impact.

[dautjazz]

Like others have said, going to have an immediate impact defensively, but he's very raw offensively. I was surprised by how slow he looked. I definitely dont see the KD comparisons at all, who was a lethal shooter with elite athletism from day one.

[Pachinko_]

Him saying how exhausted he was going to the bench i think shows how hard players in the NBA play and every game will be a grind his rookie year.

Nah, these are desperate try hards, once the regular season starts you're entering load management territory. NBA players start playing hard in April, before that you're lucky to see a game where all the starters even show up in the building with a jersey on.

I definitely think the Frenchman is not used to travelling tho. Can't think of any other reason he looked so tired from the 1st minute.

[Ugly Duckling]

ppl usually get hyped over sl and almost always regret it when the reg season starts, because the competition is sub nba. wemby blows wtf

[KembaWalker]

I think it would be irresponsible to put him on an NBA floor this season, the guy needs to work on his body for another year. He was on the floor in awkward positions and splayed out probably a dozen times in one summer league game against a team that wasn't even going particularly hard at him physically. If you put him out there against grown NBA bigs he is going to get broken very fast

[Jzh]

RealGM posters never cease to entertain, can't wait for him to put up 20/10/5/5 and be compared to Jabbar then to fail another game and be labelled as a bust.

For all people mentioning conditioning, he played 50+ games this year. He started the season mid September 22 up to mid June 23. 3 days after his last game he came for the draft and has been thrown into the NBA circus with all the media days ever since.

Most players in the SL on the contrary haven't played for months so I really don't get how people are "surprised" by his conditioning. If it were for him, he would have probably skipped the summer league, only reason he did not was because of the NBA needed him in Vegas vs Miller and Scoot.