Victor Wembanyama

(CNN) — At just 18 years old, Victor Wembanyama already looks like a future superstar of the NBA. The seven-foot-four French teenager has wowed the US this ...

LeBron James called him an alien. Everyone else is already calling him next year's no. 1 pick. Just how good can the silky 7-foot-4 star be?

The nature of the game today only amplifies the pressure on Wembanyama, given the obligations for a big to switch on the perimeter, defend every corner of the court, and handle the ball from the outside. Wembanyama plays a lot on the perimeter, but even with his slender 220-pound frame he boxes out for rebounds and absorbs contact in the paint. I asked a handful of executives what the risk really was for Wembanyama to play. He said a ton of friends and family texted him about it and his reaction was merely, “It’s cool.” There’s a maturity to the way the French star thinks and approaches both basketball and life. He already has a concerning injury history, including a fibula stress fracture, a scapula contusion, and an issue affecting the psoas muscle in his back. NBA teams view his family as a strong support system that will help him adjust to life in the NBA—and the inevitable fame that comes with it . Most execs around the league are confident in Wembanyama’s ability to become a reliable shooter because of his rate of progress and the work ethic he’s displayed so far. And sometimes, he’ll use that flexibility in a game to catch a body. I sat two rows back from the court and it didn’t take long for Wembanyama to make it clear he is the best prospect in the 2023 class, and the best prospect I have scouted in my He battled bouts of streakiness and shot 31 percent from 3 and 68.5 percent from the line in recent seasons overseas. Wembanyama is the first to admit it’s way too soon to anoint him as anything, but the Vegas showcase was organized in large part to display his talents on a worldwide stage. He stands at a towering 7-foot-4 and doesn’t even need to leave his feet to alter shots because he can stretch his 8-foot wingspan to swat away jumpers or poke the ball away from would-be attackers.

In the two-game series, the projected No. 1 pick in next year's draft posted 73 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots while making nine three-pointers.

[video link](https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1578374518116065282)). [Retweet](http://twitter.com/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hoopsrumors.com%2F2022%2F10%2Fnba-buzz-over-victor-wembanyama-continues-to-grow.html&text=NBA+Buzz+Over+Victor+Wembanyama+Continues+To+Grow)4 [Share](#)0 [Send via email](#)0 … We plan so that we limit the risk.” “Just before we came in last Saturday, we had a meeting with our doctor and we are going to prepare to plan the next two months to increase what he is doing, besides the court, to strengthen the body,” Collet said. Watching him stand out against G League competition has added to his legend, including among a pair of former MVPs. The 7’3″ French center dominated nearly every aspect of the game, delivering 36 points and 11 rebounds along with highlight blocks and outrageous long-distance shots.

Two of the most exciting No. 1 NBA draft picks of the millennium sat with a third recently in Las Vegas. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and Anthony ...

sent the New Orleans Pelicans the option to swap picks in the draft next year, meaning if their draft pick winds up being higher, the Pellies will just switch places with the Lakers. [speculated](https://t.co/CzxXEQ3ZJP) that several of the NBA's lottery-bound teams could mount a full-blown tank this season in the hopes of adding Wembanyama or Henderson, two of the most tantalizing players heading into a draft in recent memory. The Lakers, who are hoping to return to the playoffs anyway, also do not have first dibs on their own pick in 2023. Wembanyama stuck around long enough to check out the subsequent Los Angeles Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves preseason game, L.A.'s third of 2022. With vets LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn all sitting, plus Dennis Schroder away from the team and Troy Brown Jr. got vengeance in a Thursday rematch, winning 112-106.

In two exhibition games on national TV, Victor Wembanyama lived up to the hype — and then some. And he might have changed the NBA in just one week.

[ National Basketball Association](/stories/nba/warriors-once-again-grappling-with-the-duality-of-draymond-green) [Kristaps Porzingis](https://www.foxsports.com/nba/kristaps-porzingis-player), pulling up [off the bounce](https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1578126920809467904) like [Paul George](https://www.foxsports.com/nba/paul-george-player), [pivoting in the mid-post](https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1578113197206142976) like Kobe Bryant, and [swatting shots like Rudy Gobert](https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1578114617313665024). Wembanyama is a game-changer, the sort of talent so overwhelming that trying to convince teams not to tank for him would be both silly and fruitless. — before playing a single NBA game. Not only will tanking be an easier sell to fan bases who will now all be acutely familiar with Wembanyama’s potential, but you can be sure that a number of team owners have already asked their GMs if they, too, should be tanking. [NBA](https://www.foxsports.com/nba) Draft experts have been hyping him up as a transcendent talent. The In two games against Ignite, Wembanyama, playing for his French team, Metropolitans 92, and in the United States for the first time, racked up 73 points (!) on 50 percent shooting (!!), drilled nine of his 18 3-point attempts (!!!), turned the ball over just three times (!!!!) and he swatted nine shots (!!!!). "We’ve got 7-5 dudes who are able to do everything on the court." Just look at the smile that broke out across 2 pick Scoot Henderson — and in front of 200-plus NBA scouts and executives, and throngs of media members, and on national TV, a 7-foot-4 18-year-old, shooting from deep like There he was, in two games against the G League’s Ignite squad — a group featuring some of the top prospects in the country, including likely No.

After practice Thursday, Steph Curry took time to acknowledge what French professional basketball star Victor Wembanyama has shown thus far.

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Top NBA Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama will join France's national team next month for a pair of World Cup qualifying games.

83-81 in the gold-medal game of that event. France is currently 6-2 in World Cup qualifying, well on its way to becoming one of the 12 teams from Europe that will clinch a spot in the 32-team tournament. The 7-foot-3 Wembanyama is among 12 players selected for a road game at Lithuania on Nov.

The center, dubbed an 'alien' by LeBron James for his preternatural talent, leads the 12-strong squad named by Vincent Collet ahead of the 2023 World Cup ...

“The evolution of the game has taken us this far. “Everyone has been a unicorn the last two years but he’s more like an alien,” James said after a preseason game. With no NBA players in the roster the spotlight is expected to shine even brighter on Webanyama. [EuroBasket 2022](https://olympics.com/en/news/spain-win-2022-eurobasket-title), but has now been called up in the 12-man squad that will face Lithuania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in November. [breath-taking array of abilities](https://olympics.com/en/news/victor-wembanyama-metropolitans-ignite-draft-nba-prospect) during two exhibition games in Las Vegas this week, has been officially called up to represent France next month in Window 5 of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers. Basketball’s man of the hour Victor Wembanyama named in France squad for November 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers

A top prospect for the 2023 NBA Draft, Wembanyama would make his senior national team debut as France attempts to seal a World Cup berth.

83-81 in the gold-medal game of that event. France is currently 6-2 in World Cup qualifying, well on its way to becoming one of the 12 teams from Europe that will clinch a spot in the 32-team tournament. The 7-foot-3 Wembanyama is among 12 players selected for a road game at Lithuania on Nov.