2023-06-26 08:38:00
When he got off the plane late Friday afternoon, the 300 or so Spurs fans all went crazy… Except it wasn’t Victor Wembanyama, but his little brother. , Oscar, 16 years old and 30 cm shorter than his eldest. A joke that the two brothers have already tried to do during their previous stays in the United States. The quip hadn’t worked out so far, but with Wembanyama’s Spurs No.1 shirt on his shoulders and deceptive likenesses to Victor, Oscar pulled it off.
This comical scene is, ultimately, very representative of the American madness that has surrounded the San Antonio Spurs since the lottery on May 16. Soon, the term “Wembamania” will no longer be strong enough to describe the extraordinary enthusiasm aroused by the 19-year-old French basketball player and 2.23 m. “There is a lot of love here: San Antonio is one of the cities where the fans are closest to the players”, explained Jeremy Sochan, the 20-year-old American-Polish strong winger, a few minutes before the arrival. of the Wembanyama clan. “Victor will realize that on his first day here, as soon as he sets foot in San Antonio. »
Very funny sequence on the tarmac in San Antonio where the 300 or so Spurs fans seem to confuse Victor Wembanyama with Oscar, his little brother, who gets into the game. Nice! pic.twitter.com/Py0kSVqQqX
— Théo Quintard (@TheoQuintard) June 23, 2023
The first Frenchman to become number 1 in the NBA draft, Victor Wembanyama had a glimpse of it a few minutes later when he was greeted by water cannons when he landed. The former nugget of the Entente Le Chesnay Versailles, presented as the future best basketball player in the world, was celebrated like a rock star. French flags, Spurs jerseys flocked with his name and the number 1, as well as signs, each more original than the next, have flourished around the airport.
READ ALSOBasketball: Victor Wembanyama, first-choice player
“Extraterrestrials exist”, “My daughter is single, marry her”, could we read in particular in the middle of the crowd. “I didn’t expect this much when I arrived, but I already feel like home,” he said during his first press conference at the AT&T Center upon his arrival, including an appearance at the airport was brief but appreciated. « I couldn’t have hoped for better. Spurs fans, I love them already,” he smiles. The Wembanyamas, accompanied by several members of the Spurs staff, were then escorted by several police vehicles to the city center, before having dinner with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, David Robinson and Sean Elliott, four legends of the Spurs and the NBA who all reside in San Antonio.
A Wemby graph produced… two months before the lottery!
For more than a month, the whole city of San Antonio has been waiting for him, sometimes with excessive impatience but already with unconditional love for his new nugget. Roland Ramirez, owner of the Rudy’s Seafood family brewery, was probably the first to ride the Wembanyama wave. Until a few weeks ago, his building was almost entirely covered with drawings of Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker and other Spurs legends. It was still necessary to find a last person to perfect this masterpiece, made with spray paint by the local artist Nike Soupè.
READ ALSO“The new god”: and San Antonio went into madness “Wemby” “We did it two months before the lottery,” he recalls, leaning on one of the tables in his restaurant at the end of service, predicting that the Spurs will win their 6th NBA title in 2025. did it a little by chance, we wondered who would be number 1, we saw something in Wemba and we said “banco”. And it brought luck to a whole town. Since then, many other artists and merchants have followed suit.
Not far from the city center, Colton Valentine took over one of the adjacent walls of Southtown 101 Bar and painted Wembanyama in all its forms and seams. The work of the artist, who has nearly 19,000 subscribers on Instagram, has not gone unnoticed. “On Tuesday, when I was taking a little break before going home, Gregg Popovich greeted me and congratulated me,” he smiles, shirtless, finishing his work of art. art. “I wanted to do something for the city of San Antonio and bring a little light, visibility to the Spurs, and it is clear that it is successful. »
Already 4,000 new subscriptions
Wembanyama merchandise and goodies of all kinds were also a hit with San Antonio and its tourists. Marcie Anguiano, manager of the Mission Crafts Chandlery boutique for four years, makes Wembanyama candles from scratch where the Frenchman, haloed, appears in Christ. “This candle represents hope and light at the end of the tunnel,” slips the 36-year-old entrepreneur, whose orders have exploded in recent weeks. Even the town hall of San Antonio, draping itself in a black tarp where a “Hello Wemby” is written in white and in capital letters, wanted to mark the event. “It’s the next LeBron James that we welcome in San Antonio: he can have a strong economic impact and attract a lot of tourists,” hopes an employee of the town hall.
“The life of the franchise changed on lottery night,” said Olivier Pheulpin, a former San Antonio-based journalist who has long followed Spurs and Tony Parker. “It’s a city that has become used to winning and took victory as a fait accompli. Winning Wembanyama was a shock, people still find it hard to believe. »
Last franchise in the West last season (10 wins, 42 losses), the San Antonio Spurs are now hoping for better days and winning a first qualification in the playoffs since 2019. The fans believe in it more than ever and have fallen in love again of their franchise. “We have had 4,000 subscription requests since the lottery and we should have more”, welcomes Brandon Gayle, general manager of Spurs for five years, in particular spent in large multinationals such as Facebook or Instagram. “The new ones are younger, from diverse backgrounds, and reflect the San Antonio community well. These fans, among the most loyal in the NBA, have a specific connection with the franchise, especially as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spurs this year. For its half-century of existence, the Spurs could hardly have dreamed of better…
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