Victor Wembanyama is much more than a basketball player. Beyond his sporting qualities on the floor, the Frenchman from the San Antonio Spurs is dubbed in the United States for his character, his ease in front of the media and his mastery of English. This weekend, “Wemby” once again wowed the gallery at a press conference at the Scobee planetarium in San Antonio, a few days after being voted NBA rookie of the year.
An American journalist asked Wembanyama to define dark matter, after seeing him discuss the subject with children at the planetarium. Delighted to hear such an original question, the former teacher from Nanterre and Boulogne-Levallois started: “Dark matter is like a mass that we cannot see, but we know that it is there because it has gravitational influence and attractions.”
“Its presence in galaxies is 5 times higher than visible matter,” said Wembanyama, 20 years old. All in English. “Dark matter very well defined, out of the blue, by a very great (sic) basketball player. Kudos to him! Nothing beats mixing genres when it is so skillful,” applauded Étienne Klein, research director at the Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA).
Wembanyama had already, in the past, briefly mentioned his attraction to things related to space and astronomy. Star of the Spurs ranked 14th out of 15 in the Western Conference in the NBA this season, he will be eagerly awaited with the French team at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
