2023-05-16 23:27:41
It’s the first night of the rest of his life and he hasn’t lingered to enjoy it. As soon as the match was over, Victor Wembanyama rushed into a van with one-way windows with his relatives. Direction the center of the capital and a place kept secret to avoid crowds. There, in the heart of the city with those who have accompanied its incredible journey, the phenomenon will wait for the result of the lottery. This very American process which determines on this night of May 16 to 17, which team wins the first choice of the 2023 draft. Which team therefore has the right and even the chance to recruit the French giant, the one everyone is fighting for? . That same night, Victor Wembanyama will therefore know the place where he will spend the next three or four years of his life with an NBA contract guaranteed for all this time. This team in exchange will have to sign him a check for 12M$ (11.5M€) over the first year to have the incredible chance that he wears his tunic.
Yes, it’s a historic night for basketball and French sport. It did not however seem to disturb the center of all planetary attention, author of 22 points. At least in appearance: “However, he was not too much in his match in the first half, concedes Vincent Collet. He was elsewhere. It’s normal: things were running through his head. He is living a very important moment in his life. But he impressed me with his champion reaction in the second half. »
Center of attention? Even those of two of the biggest French stars who came to see him on May 16: Omar Sy and Kylian Mbappé who feasted. Wemby and Mbappé: the two magicians had already met in the fall at the Parc. But this is the first time that the captain of the France team has come to admire the other global phenomenon of French sport. Both at the same time and in the same room: there are special moments to be enjoyed. “You don’t have to be a high-level athlete to know that this guy is special, comments Kylian Mbappé at the microphone of beIN Sports. What we can do is accompany him, support him, admire what he has already done and what he will do in the future.
The giant performed throughout his pre-game the same routine as usual without showing any emotion. Before receiving among others this Wednesday, the trophy for best player of the season, he received at kick-off that of best blocker of the season.
Before immersing himself in the American night and his new life, Wemby had a game to win and not for butter. The Mets 92, the team he will still accompany for a few weeks had to win to keep his second place in the standings and the advantage of the field in the playoffs. Opposite, Paris Basketball also had to win to qualify with the right to challenge Monaco, the Euroleague semi-finalist. The conclusion of the evening is that the Mets consolidated their second place by winning narrowly (93-85). A success which, combined with that of Strasbourg, eliminates sends the Parisians on vacation.
Wembanyama ended the regular season with an extraordinary dunk that lifted Vincent Collet off his bench. An action that allows him to be the best scorer in the championship.
The Mets will receive Cholet in the playoffs on Sunday and will keep the advantage of the field until the semi-finals if they succeed. The title of champion of France remains the major objective of Wemby before flying away: “If I did not have the title of champion of France in mind, I would have stopped my season six months ago” he says .
“Where would I like to see him land in the NBA? comments Kylian Mbappé on beIN Sports. It is first of all what matters to him. Above all, he must write his own story. Everyone is impatient to see him in the NBA and me the first. I’m going to follow that tonight and cheer him on no matter what. »
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