2023-05-10 00:17:20
In a week, he will know where he will spend the next three or four years of his life in the United States. On the night of May 16-17, hours after another derby between the Mets 92 and Paris Basketball, the NBA lottery will determine which franchise will choose the first pick of the draft, the number 1, the best hope of the planet. We already know that it will be Victor Wembanyama.
The verdict is approaching: “I will soon have the revelation about the rest of my career. Day by day, I realize it a little more, but it’s only excitement. A player destined to become a great player, no matter where he falls, it will be the right one. That’s why I don’t worry at all about where I’m going to land. Either way, it’ll be a good place,” “Wemby” said.
In the right place, he was already there on Tuesday evening. Victor Wembanyama was at home, in Nanterre where it all started. With the Mets, he found his training club, the educators who shaped him. He hasn’t forgotten anything: his greeting to the supporters of Nanterre before the first in-between testified to this. His hug to Pascal Donnadieu, the coach who gave him his first chance at the pros one evening in October 2019 in the European Cup and Philippe Da Silva his deputy, confirmed it.
Whatever his glorious trajectory in the NBA, Wemby will never forget Nanterre, his roots. Sheltered in the corridors, his former coach who became club president, Frédéric Donnadieu, gave him gifts, his old jersey in particular, so that he would remember it even more in NBA halls when he played against LeBron James. “We will all be his first supporters, says Pascal Donnadieu. There is no doubt about the immense career that awaits him. His emotion, his pleasure to return to Nanterre touched me. Having had this phenomenon for a long time in our club is a source of pride. He knew how to keep a cool head, his feet on the ground. His parents have a lot to do with it. »
Only, for the first time in his life, he who spent seven years in this Maurice-Thorez sports hall went into the opponents’ locker room. In a room full to the brim as at each show of the “Wembanyama Tour”, in front of the comedians Sami Ameziane (the count of Bouderbala) and Fabrice Eboué, Nanterre played its last match of the season at home. Without real stake: 10 years after his title of champion of France, Nanterre has ensured his maintenance, the 13th in a row since 2011, despite a complicated season and the door to the playoffs is closed to him.
“He did his lap of honor with the Nanterre players and I thought it was great”
Opposite, on the other hand, Boulogne-Levallois is not yet on vacation. Vincent Collet’s team has a place in the Top 4 of the BetClic Élite to defend, even a place in the Top 2 behind Monaco to keep home advantage in the final phase. If they are in the final and, if it goes after the end of 5 games, the Mets can still have 15 games to play: 15 opportunities, the last, to see the MVP of the season in real life. So to keep this second place, the partners of the other former Nanterrien Lahaou Konaté went all out at the start. Wemby also with 14 points in the first quarter (19-30) and an impressive success (9/9) in throws.
Only Nanterre made their match and set fire before taking the lead (40-39, 18th; 47-46, 20th). There was a duel between the two neighbors, a real one as we like. And Wemby? Right knee strapped for his return to the field, he was more discreet until the break. Well put in the extinguisher by his former team, he remained so afterwards, adding “only” three throws in his pocket in the third quarter and the match remained just as close (59-63, 30th) even if Nanterre a crack a little in the money time. The moment Wembanyama woke up to finish the neighbors’ party with a total of 25 points, a nice dunk for the road, a nice cleaning of the racket with a small score of rebounds and 32 of evaluation. And the Mets won (72-82).
Above all, Wemby did not leave the room without diving into the kop of the Nanterre supporters, to say thank you and goodbye. Moved to tears. “We aim to keep our second place, admits Vincent Collet. To be sure, we have to win all our last matches, even with our limited squad. I hope it will be more complete for the playoffs. Victor, I don’t know if he felt a more particular emotion. You would have to ask him. I’m just sure he was happy to be there. He did his lap of honor with the Nanterre players and I thought it was great. »
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