Not yet present but already in everyone’s mind, on everyone’s lips… and on all screens. While he will only be putting his huge shoes – size 55 – on an NBA floor in a few months, Victor Wembanyama is already at the heart of all discussions across the Atlantic. The proof, the powerful and prestigious North American championship, whose regular season has just ended, has communicated numerous rankings including that of the most followed players on social networks stamped NBA. And the 19-year-old Frenchman is already in a good position.
If the emblematic player of the Lakers LeBron James, who in February became the best scorer in the history of the championship, prances in the lead with more than 1.3 billion “views”, Wemby appears in 8th place with 350 million interactions. If he points (for the moment?) behind references such as Stephen Curry (881 million), Luka Doncic (736 M), Ja Morant (653 M) or Giannis Antetokounmpo (522 M), he burns the courtesy of many stars including Serbian Nikola Jokic, two-time reigning NBA MVP. Excuse a bit! It is therefore not only on the basketball courts that the probable future number 1 of the NBA draft is performing feats. One can easily imagine that the popularity of the French international will rise quickly when he performs his arabesques on American soil.
For several months now, supporters and managers of NBA franchises have been fantasizing about Wembanyama. The “alien”, as LeBron James calls him, whose presence will change the destiny of his future team. The promotional tour carried out in Las Vegas with its Metropolitans partners in October tickled the curiosity of some and confirmed the interest of others. Above all, she prompted the NBA to follow the French prodigy. In October, the powerful American League forged a partnership with the National Basketball League (LNB) to broadcast one championship game per day. A first ! In fact, it was to retransmit that of Wembanyama with the Mets.
Obviously to the delight of hundreds of millions of fans. Videos of dunks or long distance shots of the best player – and scorer, rebounder and blocker – of Betclic Elite are regularly viewed millions of times on the networks.
Whoever has trivialized the extraordinary since his adolescence will officially know the name of his future team on June 23 (in France) during the NBA draft. But the suspense will already be well ventilated during the “lottery pick” (May 17 in France) which will determine the ranks of the franchises for the draft, given that the one who will recover the number 1 choice should choose the Frenchman. In the meantime, the Metropolitans player, who has just been voted best player in the championship in March, hopes to take his team to the title of champion. One last goal before the big jump.