The tongue forked. And Victor Wembanyama was on the verge of freeing himself from conveniences by revealing the name of his future NBA team. Of course, nothing dramatic. On the contrary. It was a tasty and funny moment from his long and rich press conference on Thursday, after the 85-92 defeat of “his” Mets against Monaco, at Roland-Garros, in the Betclic Elite final. His last game in France before heading to the country of Uncle Sam and the NBA.
Of course, there is no suspense. Everyone knows that the San Antonio Spurs will select the 19-year-old prodigy with the first pick of the Draft on June 22, in Brooklyn. It is 99.999% safe. But since the lottery, and therefore since we know that Tony Parker’s former club won the jackpot, “Wemby” takes care not to be assertive, it’s a matter of convenience, nothing more. Thursday, he let himself go. On the verge of spitting out the piece. The question was about his upcoming program. “My departure depended on the final. It’s in a few days… Three or four days, I don’t know. It will be very busy anyway. After the Draft, I have to go back and forth to San …”, he said, stopping dead. General laughter in the audience, “Wemby” with a mischievous look and a smile on their lips too.
“In the United States”, he corrected in stride. “I haven’t made a lot of mistakes so far,” he added, before continuing the program: “I will have to go to Portland, to the headquarters of Nike (its equipment supplier). I have plenty to do in the United States before the Summer League. There will not only be sports after the Draft”.
Note that Vincent Collet, coach of the Mets and the Blues, also had fun with this true-false suspense. Referring to the Chesnay native’s possible participation in the World Cup this summer, he said: “I hope we can collaborate with his franchise. I do not want to quote it because normally it is not yet known but we know it a little. I also received congratulations from the GM (laughs). Indeed, said franchise is a little known… According to some sources, Gregg Popovich even recently came to Paris. Recently, Wembanyama had already mentioned his search for accommodation in Texas. In less than a week it will all be official and Victor Wembanyama will be a Spurs player.
