Except for a physical glitch, in the eyes of the NBA scouts who have come by the dozens to observe him in recent days, the debate is settled. Victor Wembanyama will be the first pick of the NBA Draft in June 2023. If there was any doubt, it is cleared up. But what is the Draft? To put it simply, the 30 franchises in the league will choose among the best young players on the planet to strengthen themselves and the Frenchman is expected as the number 1 choice. The one who will tear himself away.
Not all franchises, however, will be able to because the system is complicated. To oversimplify, the weaker teams have the right to choose the strongest and most promising players first to rebalance the forces. This means that Wembanyama will not play with Stephen Curry at the Golden State Warriors or with Giannis Antetokounmpo at Milwaukee, the two favorites this season.
He will shine in a less flashy team. Which ? It’s going to jostle at the gate. “I know that many teams are salivating at the idea that they could recover it”, confirms Adam Silver, the big boss of the NBA also baba in front of the French. Reputed to be one of the best specialists in the league, US journalist Adrian Wojnarowski confirms: “He is the greatest prospect the NBA has ever seen. All the teams will put themselves in position to be able to draft him, that’s obvious. Recruiting such a player will suddenly increase the value of a franchise by 500 million dollars! »
Only to have Wembanyama, the franchises will have to miss their season to finish in the last. Many are already apparently ready to do so and adopt a so-called “tanking” strategy by deliberately losing matches. “Yes clearly, teams will not want to win to have a chance of having Wembanyama. Rare are the players like him who impact the NBA so much before even having set foot there, ”continues our colleague.
This week, Wojnarowski quoted in a paper a general manager of a franchise summing up the general feeling well: “Victor transforms the reality of basketball. The market will change after this performance. It’s the beginning of a race for the last place like we’ve never seen. »
So where will “Wemby” be playing in a year? At the moment, Americans who bet everything are predicting the Oklahoma Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, Indianapolis Pacers and Utah Jazz who lost Rudy Gobert to the off season.