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Why are there no discussions about the #1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft

June 22, 2023
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Meet 7-foot-4 French phenom Victor Wimpanyama as he prepares for the 2023 NBA Draft.

New York (AP) — Victor Wimpanyama walked into his first NBA press conference on Wednesday morning, took his seat and looked out at the maze of cameras and microphones that had been waiting for him for years.

Then smile.

“What’s up with you all?” said the French teenager.

Seeming to be fully alert and ready for what lies ahead, Wembanyama’s chapter in the NBA is now underway. The NBA draft — which Wimpanyama’s towering shadow has suspended for months, obscuring much of what is normally part of the process — is Thursday night, and he’ll be selected No. 1 overall by the San Antonio Spurs.

“Since I learned about the draft, and how exactly it works, I wanted to be the first,” Wimpanyama said on Wednesday. “I think I started to realize that I could be a professional basketball player at the age of 12. I feel like it now. I just know I’m going to have trouble sleeping tonight, for sure.”

There was no discussion about who Tottenham should take with the No. 1 pick, no discussion about which player might be better suited, and no real attempts to raise any red flags about the presumptive selection.

When a player like Wembanyama comes along – and it probably never has – there’s no real reason to stir up any drama. Someone who is listed at 7-foot-4 but has the skills of a much smaller player would not be missed by Tottenham.

The decision is certain, but not official until Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned Wimpanyama’s name Thursday night. And Wimpanyama comically corrected a New York reporter on Wednesday who welcomed him to San Antonio.

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“Not there yet,” Wimpanyama said. “But thank you.”

The 19-year-old from France has been touted as the best prospect since LeBron James graduated from high school 20 years ago, perhaps with some physical gifts that not even the NBA’s scoring leader has.

Expectations from the outside world are very high. Wimpanyama insists it won’t bother him.

“I don’t let all this stuff get into my head,” Wimpanyama said. “I have such high expectations of myself that I’m immune to all of these things. I really don’t care.”

On Monday, he arrived in the New York area, surprised some fans were waiting for him when he landed at Newark Liberty International Airport. On Tuesday, there was his first ride on the subway—he even jumped a turnstile as he walked out, though the police surrounding him didn’t complain—and a trip to Yankee Stadium to throw out a ceremonial first pitch; He was good out of the strike zone. And Wednesday morning, before starting his NBA duties, he had a weight-lifting workout with a trainer.

He was a big kid in an adult world. He signs autographs with a smile, makes fun of himself, and doesn’t mind that everyone is tempted to stare at someone of his height.

“Crazy,” he said of his first subway ride, with New Yorkers around him.

Let the madness begin. Silver named him Thursday night, shook his hand, and not long after Wimpanyama would be on a plane to San Antonio to begin the first chapter of his career in the NBA. Wimpanyama said he will play in the Summer League starting in early July, though it remains unclear if he will be participating with the Spurs in the Sacramento Summer League, the NBA’s Primary Summer League in Las Vegas, or both.

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“Wembanyama is designed for the modern game,” said analyst Jay Bellas, who has been a part of ESPN’s coverage of every draft since James headlined the 2003 edition. “We’ve never seen anything quite like it on the basketball floor.”

The modern game of the NBA requires big men to be comfortable playing off the basket, able to handle the ball and defend opponents on the perimeter. It’s a league where 7-foot Nikola Jokic just led the Denver Nuggets to their first championship by becoming the first player to lead the postseason in total points, rebounds and assists, as top defensemen Yaren Jackson Jr. and Brook Lopez blocked shots from one end and fired Fire at 3 heads on the other side.

It looks like Wembanyama can do all of that. He was the French League’s MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, leading the league in scoring, rebounds and blocks. The incredible highlights of some of those plays, slams or strikeouts when he seemed too far away to pull it off even with his massive wingspan had basketball fans and even future opponents on both sides of the Atlantic abuzz with hype all season.

He’ll go to a San Antonio team that won five titles after Tim Duncan was selected the last time he had a #1 spot in 1997. Duncan is a Hall of Famer and one of the best forwards in NBA history, and he may be asking a lot of Wembanyama to become Just like that.

But it’s the best of the bunch this year, and probably in the last 20 years.

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“I’m trying to be the best,” Wimpanyama said. “Being the best, it’s not just on the court. There are whole dimensions in the business of a basketball player, an NBA player. I want to be the best also in the press, in the press conference, all that stuff. I don’t like to do things halfway through.”

Charlotte is expected to choose between Alabama forward Brandon Miller and second-ranked G-League Ignite guard Scott Henderson, with third-ranked Portland likely to win. The Rockets and Pistons round out the top five.

These teams have been fresh off near the top of the draft and should add a good young player to new coaches IME Udoka in Houston and Monte Williams in Detroit. But these clubs shared the best odds with Tottenham of winning first-choice in last month’s lottery, so there was disappointment to be erased before thinking about the future.

This is because, while every project has good players, very few will stand the chance of drafting a player like Wimpanyama.

Just ask someone who knows.

“Everyone’s been a unicorn for the past few years, but he’s more like an alien,” James said last fall. “Nobody had ever seen anyone so tall but so flexible and agile on the ground.”

James will get a closer look next season when he plays against Tottenham. The same goes for the rest of the league. Wembanyama’s time starts now, and he looks as prepared as he can be.

“I feel really fortunate to be able to live just this life,” Wimpanyama said. “I’m just so lucky.”

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