star Victor Wembanyama featured at All Star Game

The French phenomenon Victor Wembanyama will be the main attraction of the All Star Game organized by the National Basketball League on Thursday December 29 at the Accor Arena in Paris. And it takes more to disrupt the wing of Fort Boulogne-Levallois, top scorer, rebounder and blocker of Elite. Wembanyama approached this event with an astonishing mixture of relaxation, maturity and ambition, his trademark.

“This All Star Game, I didn’t really think about it at the start of the season. My goal was to win games and perform,” he recalled at a press conference on Wednesday.

The “extraterrestrial”

While panicking the statistics in the league (22.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3 blocks per game), the one that the superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James described as an alien did not set himself a goal. points to score or rebounds to capture Thursday.

“I have no goals, apart from victory,” he said, as he will participate in the match between the best French players in the championship and the best foreign players in the three-point shooting contest. “I’m going to try to have fun and play a good game, I don’t want us to fall into a match only for show”, continued “Wemby”.

But the native of Chesnay (Yvelines), who should be the first player chosen in the prestigious 2023 NBA Draft next June, unheard of for a Frenchman, knows well that we now expect spectacle and exploits from him.

“It should be fine”

Without a doubt, he will be the most observed player of this All Star Game: “All this attention has no impact on me”, he however swept away. These one-day teammates are delighted to rub shoulders with the one whose championship matches are now broadcast in the United States and who dresses stars like actor Michael Douglas or rapper Travis Scott.

“It’s better to have it with you than against you, it’s one more weapon,” smiled Boris Dallo, an opponent in normal times in the league in the jersey of Cholet. “I rubbed shoulders with him in the France team recently,” added Limoges full-back Nicolas Lang. “What is easier to defend when you have him in your team, you feel like a great defender!”.

All insist on the impact that a Wembanyama can have on the French basket, already well spoiled with its players who play in the NBA and who have made history like Tony Parker, without forgetting the results of the French teams, vice-champion for men and bronze medalist for women in Tokyo in 2021.

“It’s very good for the French basket, it’s strong what it does (…) it will leave a beautiful image to the “little ones” who watch it”, underlined Giovan Oniangue (Pau-Orthez). The interested party does not project further than the All Star Game on Thursday: “It should go well”, smiled “Wemby”, confident and serene, before joining his teammates for their only training session.