Victor Wembanyama’s subsequent couple of weeks at the moment are set: He’ll be taking part in within the French league finals beginning this weekend, after which the San Antonio Spurs will virtually definitely make him the No. 1 choose within the NBA draft on June 22.
And if meaning the French star’s summer time league debut is available in Sacramento as a substitute of Las Vegas in early July, the league is okay with that.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned the league doesn’t have a desire concerning the location of Wembanyama’s first sport with the Spurs. While the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is the largest — all 30 groups attend — and instructions probably the most consideration, there are smaller summer time leagues that precede the Vegas occasion by just a few days. Sacramento performs host to a type of occasions, and the Spurs is one among six groups headed there this yr.
“All summer leagues are NBA Summer Leagues,” Silver informed The Associated Press. “I’m very supportive of the Sacramento summer league. I remember when (Kings owner Vivek Ranadive) first came to the league and said this was something he wanted to do. I said, ‘As long as you have enough other teams who support it and players who want to play in it, it’s a good thing.’”
The Kings may be getting much more buzz than normal this summer time. Not solely is the Spurs headed there, however so is Charlotte — which holds the No. 2 choose. And it simply so occurs that the Spurs and Hornets will open Sacramento summer time play towards each other, probably setting the stage for a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup just a few days earlier than Vegas even begins.
If Wembanyama performs in Sacramento, he’d be the primary No. 1 choose that didn’t debut in Las Vegas since Markelle Fultz for Philadelphia in 2017. The 76ers performed in Utah’s summer time league that yr earlier than going to Vegas.
Other latest No. 1 picks have opened in Las Vegas with big-crowd, big-spectacle atmospheres. Paolo Banchero’s debut in Vegas for Orlando final summer time had John Wall and DeMar DeRozan sitting courtside, as was Jerry West — three guys who didn’t must see the scalpers who had been working exterior the sector for hours earlier than the sport. Zion Williamson performed solely 9 minutes in his debut in 2019, in a sport that was stopped by an earthquake, and his debut received LeBron James and Anthony Davis to seize courtside seats.
The Spurs has not mentioned whether or not Wembanyama will play within the Sacramento occasion, which begins on July 3, and virtually definitely received’t handle the subject till it truly drafts him in somewhat over two weeks. Wembanyama is predicted to be with the Spurs in Las Vegas as nicely; the league has already introduced him as one of many individuals for its inaugural NBA Con — which runs there from July 7-9 and can rejoice many elements of basketball tradition.
“What’s made the summer leagues so valuable are really the media rights more than the individuals who buy tickets there, because it’s a very affordable experience,” Silver mentioned. “So, the answer is, I want Victor to get playing court experience and I think the team — assuming it’s San Antonio — should make decisions completely independent of any commercial implications from where he debuts.”
Wembanyama’s Boulogne-Levallois workforce beat his former workforce, ASVEL, 3-1 in a French league semifinal sequence that ended Sunday. Monaco, the highest seed within the league, awaits Wembanyama’s workforce within the best-of-five remaining that begins Saturday and will go till June 20 — two days earlier than the draft.
“So proud of my guys,” Wembanyama tweeted Sunday after the semifinal win. “Job ain’t done tho.”
Wembanyama mentioned in October that he’s 7-foot-3; some nonetheless say he’s 7-foot-4 or 7-foot-5, and on condition that he’s solely 19, it’s definitely potential that he had a little bit of rising left in latest months. Either approach, he’s a generational expertise who’ll come into the NBA with monumental hype, the likes of which in all probability hasn’t been seen since James went No. 1 total to Cleveland in 2003.
“What I try to advise players — and I’m not making a prediction that he will or won’t live up to the hype — is to control what you can control, and I think what you can control is doing the work,” Silver mentioned. “If he is in San Antonio, it’s an organisation that led the way in terms of international scouting and signing of international players. Certainly, everyone would acknowledge they know how to develop players and particularly big men. And so, if I were in his shoes, or if I’m advising him, I’m saying, ‘Quickly become part of that organisation and be a sponge and listen to the advice.’”
