It's not quite what he was looking for, but San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama will take it. As the generational prospect gets set for Friday's Rising Stars Game, he'd rather be taking part in the NBA All-Star Weekend's main event.
“It's great,” Wemby said about the exhibition that features some of the top rookies, second-year players, and elite G Leaguers.
“It would've been greater if I was on the All-Star team but it's a great experience I'm going to have,” the top pick in this past NBA Draft continued. “I'm going to be able to see some great players and the best of the league.”
How Victor Wembanyama geared up for All-Star Weekend
The French marvel has said that leading up to the weekend he hadn't really thought about the NBA's well-chronicled in-season break that celebrates the league's best because he instead focused on the frequent regular season games at hand.
Though he did admit, “It's definitely going to be special and real fun.”
“I'm going to have a very busy schedule,” Wembanyama revealed in saying he'll now start thinking about the coming weekend. “It's going to be a fun experience. Intense, but fun.”
But the fun will come with limits the 20-year-old phenom says.
“No, I'm not going to have time,” Wemby responded when asked if he'll attend All-Star-related parties.
Wemby closes the season's “first half”
Though the Spurs have played 55 of their 82-game schedule, because All-Star Weekend breaks up the NBA season for a week, it serves as a point of reference. In leading up to the festivities, Wembanyama was asked to reflect on what's been notable about his first consistent taste of American-style basketball.
“What I've learned the most: plenty of stuff. Most importantly the areas we need to avoid and the ones we need to grow into strongly, to go at them. I've learned, honestly, plenty of stuff, but, the most about myself,” Victor Wembanyama replied.
Wemby's final two games before leading up to the weekend saw him record a triple-double followed by a 26-point performance. Versus the Toronto Raptors on Monday, the 7-foot-4 big man scored 27 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, and blocked 10 shots in becoming the first rookie since David Robinson in 1990 to earn a triple-double with blocks.
“Surely, the dog days kind of got him here in the last maybe week and a half, two weeks. He's probably starting to feel a little bit better now that he got through that,” head coach Gregg Popovich said after that 122-99 victory in Canada.
In Wednesday's 116-93 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama again led the Spurs, this time with 26 points. It marked his third straight game with at least 20 points after he started February with four sub-20-point outings. For the season, the literal Rising Star is averaging 20.5 points, 10 rebounds, a league-leading 3.2 blocks, and 3.2 steals in less than 29 minutes per game.
With only Jeremy Sochan (also in the Rising Stars Game) and Dominick Barlow (G League's Up Next Game) joining Wemby in Indianapolis, Indiana, most Spurs will get a break over the next week. The team's Hall of Fame coach has a simple message for his young group.
“Enjoy themselves. That's what I'm going to do.”
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