Victor Wembanyama will not play for France at the World Cup
SAN ANTONIO –
Victor Wembanyama has bad news for France.
The number 1 in the squad told L’Equipe newspaper that he will not play with his national basketball team at this year’s World Cup to protect his still-developing body. San Antonio Spurs.
Wembanyama said it was a “difficult” decision to make, adding that it is “irrevocable”.
The top pick in this year’s NBA draft had previously said he wanted to play in the tournament, which runs from August 25 through September 10 and will feature France among the medal favorites. But both he and the Spurs suggested in recent days that his participation was no longer certain.
Wembanyama said he made the choice “on his own” after consulting close friends and his medical team. He told France’s coach and other players of the team about his decision over the weekend, L’Equipe reported Monday.
Wembanyama said he was not pressured in any way by the Spurs, adding that the NBA franchise would have supported him whatever he decided.
If Wembanyama sticks to his decision, it means he will not play with France in a major tournament until next year’s Paris Olympics.
The Spurs chose the 19-year-old prodigy, who arrives with huge expectations, to become basketball’s newest sensation.
Wembanyama has a lot more height and hype than most No. 1 picks. Standing 2.4m tall, he dominated the French league in his final season, leading all players in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.
Wembanyama said he hesitated a lot and pointed to the need to preserve his body, which he already put to the test during a long season with his club Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, who reached the final in the Pro A League.
He said going into the World Cup and then playing with the Spurs and following up the NBA season with the Olympics would have been too much.
Wembanyama played in 48 games, including the playoffs and two exhibitions near Las Vegas last fall, in his recently completed season for Boulogne-Levallois – a team coached by Vincent Collet, who also coaches the French national team. The French season for Wembanyama ran from September to an appearance in the league final earlier this month.
“It would be unrealistic in terms of development and unwise in terms of health,” Wembanyama said. “I hope people will understand. It’s frustrating for me too. The French team is central as always. I want to win as many titles as possible with them. But I think it’s a necessary sacrifice.”
The NBA season consists of 82 games, not counting pre-season and possibly post-season games. Had he played in the World Cup, Wembanyama would not have given his body much rest to rest and prepare for the much more demanding rigors of an NBA schedule.
And it is clear that, at least for this summer, he has decided that his focus will be entirely on the Spurs.
“I try to learn and be as objective as possible to become the best,” Wembanyama said over the weekend, when he visited his new home arena for the first time. “But I also try to be myself and not let anyone change the way I want to be, the way I want to play. And I think that’s really the way to become the best version of myself that I can be as a player .”
Wembanyama is expected to play in the Summer League with the Spurs in the coming weeks; it remains unclear if he will compete in the California Classic that Sacramento hosts starting July 3, the larger NBA Summer League in Las Vegas that starts July 7, or both. World Cup practices with the French team would have started not long after the Summer League, and the FIBA tournament ends about three weeks before NBA training camps open.
The French federation is expected to announce its provisional squad for the World Cup later this week. France lost the gold medal match at the most recent major international tournament – the Tokyo Olympics – to the United States in 2021, and won the bronze medal at the last World Cup in China in 2019.
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Petrequin reported from Brussels.
