Víctor Wembanyama lived up to all the hype as an NBA rookie. In Year 2, the Spurs star wants more

Here are some of the awards that Victor Wembanyama has received in the last 12 months: the NBA New of the Year trophy, a spot on the All-Rookie team, a first team All-Defense selection, three rookie of the month awards and most recently an Olympic silver medal.

They are all nice. They are not enough either.

Wembanyama wants more, much more, and as the San Antonio Spurs’ French star prepares to enter Year 2 of his NBA career, having lived up to pretty much every high expectation there is had in year 1, he is not in a hurry to say that he thinks bigger. .

“It’s the same for all my trophies, team or even individual trophies,” Wembanyama said. “I love them. I love them very much. But I want all my trophies that I have now to be bricks to build something great in the future. You know, a brick by itself isn’t much. You can get a palace when you collect them.”

Let the build process continue, then.

If San Antonio is going to get back into the playoff mix this season, Wembanyama will have to be a big reason why. Still officially listed at 7-foot-3 by the Spurs (he looks at least a couple of inches taller, though he says he hasn’t grown), Wembanyama knows all eyes are on him this season, even though he probably isn’t there is no one in the NBA that can look him eye to eye. He was the unanimous rookie of the year and runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting after averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game last season.

He will probably be an All-Star this season. He’s already being talked about as an MVP candidate. He is the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year. There have only been a handful of players who have earned that respect in their second year in the NBA, and Wembanyama has earned everything people say about him.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You know, he’s an incredible talent. He’s also very dedicated. I think we saw that summer in the Olympics, especially in France, when there were high expectations for that team. And the biggest moments are when he played his best possible, including our last game. But the last two or three games, you could see the trend in that direction. That was impressive.”

The Olympic Games in Paris — where Wembanyama had the basketball gold medal hopes of an entire host nation on their shoulders — was another stage where they did not disappoint. He averaged 15.8 points and 9.7 rebounds, was chosen as the FIBA ​​Rising Star of the tournament and was part of the All-Star Five (FIBA’s version of ‘an all-tournament team) next door. MVP LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Dennis Schroder.

Wembanyama saved his best for last in Paris, scoring 26 points in the gold medal game against the USA, enough to keep France close but not enough to overcome it flurry of triples than Curry made in the final minutes to seal a fifth consecutive Olympic title for the Americans.

It was another reminder that Wembanyama is not on his way to stardom. He’s already there, and the Olympics could be a stepping stone to the next level of fame.

“Victor was great,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who watched Wembanyama in Paris. “He steadily improved throughout the Olympics and ended up being very formidable. But for all the players over the years who have played in FIBA ​​and left in the summer, it’s always a plus.”

Wembanyama finds inspiration throughout the game. He loves it fellow Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, the WNBA star of the Indiana Fever. (“When I was in college … the only college player that blew me away. I’m saying men’s and women’s basketball. She’s probably the most impressive,” Wembanyama said.) And he’s looking forward to learning from a couple of highly decorated people. veterans the Spurs brought in this summer, Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes.

“He works really hard,” Paul said of Wembanyama. “His ability to shoot, pass, dribble, do everything, his defense… it took a little getting used to. We’re a work in progress.”

As a basis, Paul’s job is to make life easier by Wembanyama on the track. That doesn’t mean he’ll take it easy with Wembanyama off the court. The Spurs had one table tennis tournament during the pre-season and Paul beat Wembanyama in the semi-finals.

This did not sit well with Wembanyama. And what he said after that bragging rights event might shed some light on his true mindset entering his second NBA season. In short, when faced with a challenge a second time, you want to do better than the first time.

“Today, he is the best. He will not last,” Wembanyama said after the table tennis clash. “I don’t have much experience in table tennis, but lately I have improved a lot. So it won’t last.”

He also doesn’t have much NBA experience. But it has improved. The league knows what’s coming. He was almost undefendable last year and will be better now.

“A successful year would be a year where we don’t waste time making the mistakes we made last year and implement our improvements right away,” Wembanyama said. “I think it’s good because when I look at everybody, and I saw everybody over the summer, everybody was working really hard. And it looks like it’s going to pay off.”

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