Victor Wembanyama freely acknowledged that he was typically confused in his first NBA Summer League sport, going so far as to say that there have been occasions when he didn’t know what he was doing.
He’s in good firm.
Wembanyama shared the stage for a dialog on Saturday at NBA Con with a pair of champions, Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Isiah Thomas. And they might have given the San Antonio Spurs rookie a little bit of solace by revealing that once they have been breaking into the league, that they had moments once they have been misplaced as effectively.
“It takes a while. You have things to learn,” Abdul-Jabbar instructed him on the stage through the 30-minute dialog that Thomas moderated, one of many featured sights on the inaugural NBA Con. “But he’s an intelligent young man. He’ll get it done.”
Hundreds of individuals crammed right into a small house to listen to the dialog; many extra who couldn’t get in stretched their telephones close to the doorways, determined for even a glance.
“It truly means something to me that such great people were in attendance for my game yesterday,” Wembanyama stated, seated to the left of Abdul-Jabbar and Thomas. “It just means a lot and shows who the people who care truly are and who the people who are interested in the new generation are. You said it’s an honor for you to be with us, but it’s truly an honor for me to be with you two guys.”
Wembanyama had 9 factors on 2-for-13 taking pictures, eight rebounds, 5 blocked photographs and three assists in his Summer League debut on Friday evening whereas serving to San Antonio beat the Charlotte Hornets. He airballed a few 3s, received dunked on as soon as, and there have been occasions he knew he was making a mistake.
Worry not, Thomas and Abdul-Jabbar instructed him. They have been rookies as soon as, too.
“As of today, I’m just a rookie,” Wembanyama stated. “I don’t have one NBA game in me. I just got everything to learn. The truth was, yeah, I didn’t know what I was doing. And for the next games, I’m probably not going to know what I’m doing, too. But it’s going to come as time goes and hopefully we’ll be ready for the season.
“I’m still a kid. I’m just ready to learn.”
Abdul-Jabbar instructed him a narrative of certainly one of his first video games as a rookie, taking part in in opposition to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls had an enormous man named Tom Boerwinkle; Abdul-Jabbar stated he went dwelling in a wheelchair that evening with a sprained ankle after taking part in the Bulls.
Wembanyama is getting into a bit extra pleasant league, Abdul-Jabbar stated.
“You should be thankful for that,” Abdul-Jabbar instructed him. “They had guys in the league named Bad News. That should give you an idea of what it was about. I’m happy for you that you’re coming into a league that appreciates you and they’ll do all they can to make sure you don’t get waylaid by someone out on the court just because they want a job.”
Wembanyama has been greeted by massive, appreciative crowds each step of the best way within the early days of his NBA journey. Summer League has bought out its first three days in Las Vegas, and Wembanyama drew a totally packed home for his debut.
He’s appreciative, he stated.
“I see a lot of Spurs jerseys. I even see a French team jersey,” he stated, as Abdul-Jabbar and Thomas seemed on the crowd and nodded. “Yesterday during the game, every time I got the ball I heard the people start cheering. It’s really all this love, all this attention. … I think it’s the best thing the fans can do for me as a rookie, as a new player in the NBA, just that love. I hope I can give it back over the years and I think the best way for me to give it back to the fans is get some rings.”
That’s when Thomas — a two-time NBA champion — requested the six-time NBA champion in Abdul-Jabbar to elucidate to Wembanyama what it’ll take to get these rings.
“The difficulty is learning how you can best contribute to a winning effort,” Abdul-Jabbar instructed him. “That’s what you’ve got to learn how to do with your skill set. You will find out what that is basically in preseason. You’ll find out a lot about that.”
And earlier than the dialog wrapped, Abdul-Jabbar gave the rookie yet another piece of recommendation.
“Be careful. Save your money,” Abdul-Jabbar instructed him. “And 20 years from now, you’ll say, ‘Hey, I’m glad I listened to Kareem.’”
