by tyler | May 22, 2023 | CNN, sport
Vinícius Jr., Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward, was subjected to persistent racist abuse during his team’s 1-0 defeat to Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium in Spain’s La Liga.
The flashpoint of the game came in the second half, where after a stoppage in play, an animated Vinícius pointed out a fan in the stands for the abuse before engaging with the supporters in the section of the crowd in question.
LaLiga TV broadcasters said there was an announcement in the stadium calling on fans to not insult the players or throw objects onto the pitch.
The referee’s official report from the game described the incident.
“Racist insults: in the 73rd minute, a spectator from the southern ‘Mario Kempes’ tribune directed himself towards player No. 20 of Real Madrid CF Mr. Vinicius José De Oliveira Do Nascimiento, screaming at him: ‘Monkey, monkey’ which led to the activation of the racism protocol, notifying the pitch delegate so that a corresponding warning over the loudspeaker would be made. The match was halted until said announcement was aired over the loudspeaker of the stadium,” it reads.
Vinícius Jr. was sent off in the final minutes of the game for his involvement in an altercation with Valencia player Hugo Duro.
Video from the match broadcast by DAZN España also showed that, in addition to the aforementioned incident, the Real Madrid star was subjected to various other racial insults throughout the game.
Spanish national police in Valencia told CNN on Monday that they identified one person in the stadium who was involved in alleged racist chanting, but so far no arrests have been made. In a statement on Monday, Valencia confirmed that local police had identified one fan and that the fan in question and any others involved in racist gesturing or acts would be banned for life from the stadium.
The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office told CNN on Monday that it has opened an investigation into the incident for a potential hate crime.
Los Blancos manager Ancelotti addressed the situation after the game to Movistar Plus, saying, “I don’t want to talk about football today … when a whole stadium is chanting ‘monkey’ at a player and the manager has to think about taking off a player because of it, there is something bad happening in this league.”
In a separate interview with reporters, Ancelotti suggested referees should call off matches in other instances of racism in the league. The Italian said, “I’m very sad because La Liga is a league with big teams with a good atmosphere. This we have to get rid of. We are in 2023, racism does not have to exist … the only way for me is to stop the game.”
On his personal Instagram account, Vinícius Jr. posted a story saying, “The prize that racists won was my expulsion! ‘This isn’t football, this is @LaLiga.’”
The Real Madrid player then posted a longer statement on his Twitter: “It was not the first time, nor the second, nor the third. Racism is normal in La Liga. The competition thinks it’s normal, the Federation does too and the opponents encourage it. I’m so sorry. The championship that once belonged to Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi today belongs to racists.
“A beautiful nation, which welcomed me and which I love, but which agreed to export the image of a racist country to the world. I’m sorry for the Spaniards who don’t agree, but today, in Brazil, Spain is known as a country of racists.
“And unfortunately, for everything that happens each week, I have no defense. I agree. But I am strong and I will fight to the end against racists. Even if that is far from here.”
Later, in response to a tweet by LaLiga president Javier Tebas telling Vinícius to “inform” himself on LaLiga’s jurisdictions and role in racism cases and chiding him for twice not meeting with him to discuss the matter, the Brazilian said: “Once again, instead of criticizing racists, the president of LaLiga shows up on social media to attack me. … I am not your friend to talk with about racism. I want actions and punishments. Hashtags don’t move me.”
Real Madrid quoted Ancelotti, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and winger Lucas Vázquez on its official social media but offered no official statement immediately in the wake of the match.
Valencia issued a statement shortly after the conclusion of the match on its website: “Valencia CF wishes to publicly condemn any type of insult, attack or downgrading in football. The club, in its dedication to the values of respect and sportsmanship, reaffirms publicly its position against physical and verbal violence in stadiums and regrets the events which occurred during the game of Matchday 35 of La Liga against Real Madrid.
“Although it is an isolated incident, insults towards any footballer of the rival team have no place in football and do not fit with the values and identity of Valencia CF. The club is investigating the events and will take the most severe measures. In the same vein, Valencia CF condemns whichever offense and asks for the maximum respect towards our own fans.”
Despite other Real Madrid players also saying that monkey chants were made towards Vinícius Jr., including goalkeeper Courtois, Valencia rejected Ancelotti’s claim that the stadium was chanting “monkey.”
“Valencia CF can’t tolerate someone accusing our fans of being racist, we strongly reject Ancelotti’s comments,” club corporate director and spokesperson Javier Solís said.
La Liga issued a statement of their own, announcing an investigation into events at the Mestalla.
“In the face of the incidents which took place during Valencia CF vs Real Madrid CF in the Estadio de Mestalla, LaLiga wishes to inform that it has requested all the available images to investigate what happened,” it said. “LaLiga will also investigate the images in which racist insults were allegedly uttered towards Vinicius Jr. outside of the grounds of Mestalla.”
Vinícius Jr. has been subjected to racism repeatedly this season, as noted by the La Liga statement. The league’s authorities told CNN in March they do not have the power to punish fans or clubs for racist abuse. Instead, La Liga can only pass on any incidents of abuse to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) or regional prosecutors, who deal with them as legal cases before sporting punishments are handed out.
“LaLiga has been proactive against all racist incidents against the Real Madrid CF player Vinícius Jr,” the league’s statement continued, before listing nine separate incidents from the past two seasons it had reported to the Competition Committee of RFEF, the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport, the hate crimes prosecutors and the courts.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino posted an Instagram story saying, “Full solidarity to Vinicius. There is no place for racism in football or in society and FIFA stands by all players who have found themselves in such a situation,” before highlighting the need for the racism protocol which FIFA uses in its competitions.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that it’s “not possible that almost in the middle of the 21st century, we have the racial prejudice gaining strength in several football stadiums in Europe … I think it is important that FIFA, the Spanish league, and leagues in other countries take real action because we cannot allow fascism and racism to dominate football stadiums,” while the Brazilian Football Federation tweeted: “How long will humanity remain just a spectator and an accomplice in cruel acts of racism?”
While responses from around the world have come to the defense of Vinícius, criticism of the player abounds in Spain with many commentators and members of the public accusing the Madrid star of being a provocative figure.
The spokesperson for the Socialist Party of Valencia, Borja Sanjuan Roca, wrote on Twitter following the player’s expulsion in Sunday’s match: “This red card from Vinícius was celebrated by half of Spain.” When he was subsequently told by a political science professor that he should be calling out the racism Vinícius suffered, Sanjuan said: “I will never defend any racist insult that any player could suffer, but this isn’t what happens with Vinicius. This player is an embarrassment for football.”
Before Sunday’s win over Real, Valencia had been in danger of being drawn into the relegation battle and after the match, when Vinícius was signing autographs for fans near the team bus a Spanish journalist asked him, “Are you going to apologize for that gesture you did? To Second Division?” to which the Madrid winger replied, “Are you stupid?”
After the match, Valencia manager Rubén Baraja denounced the “person or group” involved with abusing Vinícius, but then appeared to suggest that the Madrid star “will apologize” to Valencia fans because his “A Segunda (To Second Division)” gestures while being sent off were “also very condemnable.”
Similar sentiments were commonplace in Spanish media’s coverage of Sunday’s match, which ranged from “Enough with the racist insults and also enough with the gestures of Vinícius” to “Vinícius, a ‘masterclass’ of everything you shouldn’t do on a football pitch.”
In statement on Monday, Real Madrid C. F. said Sunday’s events “constitute a direct attack to the model of coexistence in our State of social and democratic rights.”
“Real Madrid considered that such attacks additionally constitute a hate crime, as such it will present a corresponding complaint to the General State Prosecutor, concretely to the Prosecutor against hate crimes and discrimination, so that the events are investigated and responsibilities are handed out.
“Article 124 of the Spanish Constitution establishes the functions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to promote the action of justice in the defense of legality and the rights of citizens and the public interest.
“For this reason, and given the seriousness of the events that occurred, Real Madrid has turned to the State Attorney General’s Office, without prejudice to its appearance as a private prosecution in the proceedings that are being initiated.”
Meanwhile, many prominent names in football offered their support to Vinícius. Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said on his Instagram, “Bro you need protecting….who is protecting @vinijr in Spain?
“How many times do we need to see this young man subjected to this sh*t?? I see pain, I see disgust, I see him needing help … and the authorities don’t do sh*t to help him.
“People need to stand together and demand more from the authorities that run our game. No one deserves this, yet you are allowing it. There needs to be a unified approach to this otherwise it will be swept under the carpet AGAIN.”
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappé wrote on his Instagram story, “You’re not alone. We are with you and we support you,” while fellow PSG star Neymar wrote on his Instagram story, “I’m with you @Vinijr.”
Milan forward Rafael Leão tweeted, “When will it end?” in response to the incident.
Vinícius’ Real Madrid teammates came out en masse to support the Brazilian with defender Antonio Rüdiger saying, “2023 And still… Disgrace. We’re with you @vinijr.”
by tyler | May 22, 2023 | CNN, sport
Carmelo Anthony, one of the greatest scorers the NBA has ever seen, has announced his retirement from basketball at the age of 38.
The third pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Anthony enjoyed an illustrious 19-year career that included 10 NBA All-Star appearances, six All-NBA selections, a scoring title and a place on the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.
His ability to score the basketball made him one of the most feared and box office players in the league for much of his time in the NBA and his 28,289 career points places him ninth on the all-time scoring list.
During his college career, Anthony famously led Syracuse to its first national men’s basketball title when he was a freshman, before going on to play for the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA.
As a member of Team USA, Anthony won three Olympic gold medals – Rio in 2016, London in 2012 and Beijing in 2008 – and one bronze at Athens 2004.
“I remember the days when I had nothing, just a ball on the court and dream of something more,” Anthony said in his retirement video. “But basketball was my outlet, my purpose was strong, my communities, the cities I represented with pride and the fans that supported me along the way.
“I am forever grateful for those people and places because they made me: Carmelo Anthony.
“But now the time has come for me to say goodbye – to the court where I made my name to the game that gave me purpose and pride, but this is a bittersweet goodbye to the NBA. I am excited about what the future holds for me.”
Anthony began his career with the Nuggets and quickly cemented his place among the league’s leading talents.
In 2009, he guided Denver to its first Western Conference Finals appearance since 1985 where they were eliminated by the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Lakers.
During the 2010/11 season, he moved to the New York Knicks in a highly publicized trade but would advance past the first round of the Playoffs just once in his time at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony recorded his career high and the Knicks’ franchise record with a 62-point performance in the Garden against the Charlotte Bobcats in January 2014.
He was traded to the Thunder in 2017 and then to the Rockets in 2018, where he played just a few games before being held out of the team.
In November 2019, more than a year after he last played in the NBA, he signed a deal with the Trail Blazers and enjoyed something of a renaissance, going on to play a crucial role in the team reaching the playoffs during the NBA bubble.
After two seasons in Portland – during which Anthony broke into the top 10 of the NBA’s all-time scoring list – he signed for the Lakers for the 2021/22 season for what would be his final active year in the NBA, as the team finished 11th in the Western Conference.
“You’re such a legend and beyond my brother,” LeBron James, who went No. 1 overall in the same draft class, wrote on an Instagram story.
“Congratulations on a helluva ride.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a tweet, “Carmelo Anthony is one of the NBA’s all-time great players and ambassadors. We congratulate him on a remarkable 19-year career and look forward to seeing him in the Hall of Fame.”
During his time in the NBA, Anthony began a venture into the winemaking industry and is hoping to build a legacy well beyond the basketball court.
But his journey as a wine lover started off as a lonely one.
“There was no wine in the NBA,” he told CNN Sport in 2022 about his first years in the league. “My journey had been going since [2005], not even knowing that I was on a wine journey.
“I was drinking wine, going to a restaurant, sitting at the bar, asking for a glass of wine with [teammates] just looking at me like, ‘Man, what is he doing?’”
Anthony recalled how most players would laugh and tell him it was not a healthy habit.
He began to understand the value and quality of wines during road trips to Sacramento, California, where he’d visit wine clubs serving varieties from nearby Napa Valley and other parts of the world.
In 2011, when Anthony was traded from the Nuggets to the Knicks, his appreciation for wine heightened.
“It just exposed me to a whole new world of wine lovers, different wines, different chats, different palates. And from that point on, I knew this was a genre that I wanted to be a part of.”
Slowly, Anthony said, other players around the league came around to appreciating Burgundy, Bordeaux and Beaujolais.
by tyler | May 18, 2023 | CNN, sport
A Florida judge has blocked an attempt by the ex-girlfriend of professional golfer Tiger Woods to nullify a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that would require her to arbitrate complaints she has filed against the golfer.
In a decision on Wednesday, Judge Elizabeth Metzger with Florida’s 19th Circuit Court ruled against Erica Herman, calling her claims that the NDA is invalid and unenforceable “implausibly pled.”
The ruling allows the arbitration process to move forward privately, within the terms of the agreement.
Lawyers for Erica Herman were challenging the validity of the NDA because of allegations of sexual harassment against the 15-time major champion.
She claimed that the golfer pursued a sexual relationship with her while she worked for him and then forced her to sign an NDA or be fired from her job, CNN previously reported. Under a new federal law, Herman was trying to invalidate the arbitration agreement, which states that it can be voided if sexual misconduct is involved.
“Herman has had the opportunity to provide factual specificity for any claim relating to sexual assault or sexual harassment, however, she has not done so,” wrote Judge Metzger.
In a court filing earlier this month, Woods’ lawyers characterized Herman’s allegations of sexual harassment as “implausible,” writing that “Ms. Herman in this case does not even attempt to assert a cause of action rising to the level of sexual harassment under any federal, tribal, or state law.”
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Tiger Woods and Erica Herman for comment.
by tyler | May 17, 2023 | CNN, sport
Speaking to reporters a day after the WBNA announced her suspension for violating league and team workplace policies, Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, said she was disappointed with the league’s findings but is looking forward to “putting the whole thing behind us and playing good basketball.”
The WNBA had investigated claims made by former Aces forward Dearica Hamby, who, after she was traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in January, said the team discriminated against her for getting pregnant.
“(Her pregnancy) wasn’t a problem, and it never was why we made the decision to move Hamby,” Hammon said.
“We made the decision to move Hamby because we could get three bodies in for her one contract … It was never an issue, and it was never the reason she was traded. It just wasn’t.
“It came down to math and business. Nothing personal. I had a great relationship with Hamby the whole time, which is why she probably felt the way she did, you know?
“It feels like a betrayal. It’s a crappy part of my job, but somebody’s got to be the bearer of bad news.”
Hamby had signed a two-year contract extension with the Aces in June. She said in a post on Instagram that she was accused of signing the extension while knowing she was pregnant, which she denied.
Following the probe, the league said the respect in the workplace violation was related to comments made by Hammon to Hamby in connection with the 29-year-old forward’s recent pregnancy, while the team violation involved promises of impermissible benefits in connection with negotiations for an extension of her player contract.
Hammon is suspended without pay for the Aces’ first two games of the regular season, and the franchise loses a 2025 first-round draft pick.
Hammon said the league told her she was suspended for “asking about her pregnancy and a private conversation [she] was having with Dearica,” but also said she thought her relationship with Hamby was “on the up and up” when she was with the Aces.
When the decision was made to trade Hamby, “that’s when everything kind of fell apart,” according to Hammon.
“Whatever Dearica deemed as painful or whatever, I’m not (invalidating) her feelings, and I’m sorry that they were hurt,” Hammon said.
“My job is to have tough conversations, but I still have to do a job. My job is to make the Aces better every year, and sometimes that’s a hard process.
“As much as I can sit there and say that’s not how I deemed the conversation going, she deemed it another way, and for that, I do feel bad. I don’t feel good at inflicting pain or stress on anybody. It’s just not in me. It’s not in my heart.”
by tyler | May 17, 2023 | CNN, sport
In sport there is nothing more revered than scoring the winning points in the last minute, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. All of sports’ greatest matches have that moment which stick in fans’ forever. But not for Kenya rugby’s Dennis Ombachi.
When looking back at the try that he scored after the buzzer had gone, to send the Kenya Sevens team to the Olympics, he tells CNN Sport, “I really can’t remember much. What I remember is getting the hooter and hearing the coaches, the late Benjamin Ayimba [Kenya’s head coach] and the technical bench just screaming Omba, Omba!”
From inside his own 22, Ombachi handed off two Zimbabwe tackles before storming down the pitch to score the try that qualified Kenya for the inaugural Olympic Rugby Sevens event.
Ombachi would be a part of the Kenya team that went to Rio and rubbed shoulders with the greatest athletes in the world, becoming a regular with the team on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
But at the height of his powers, the Kenyan star suffered a severe leg break, side-lining him for the best part of a year.
But it was Ombachi’s mental health that would take a bigger hit than his broken leg. Being forced to move home and with nothing to do but wait for his leg to heal, Ombachi struggled to cope and eventually attempted to take his own life.
“Bones and muscles eventually do heal. But what I really didn’t factor in was the mental toll that it was going to take on me and which dragged on, even up to now that I still suffer a bit from it,” Ombachi recalls.
Thanks to intervention from friends and family, Ombachi was hospitalized and finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness characterized by manic highs, depressive lows and possible periods of psychosis.
But Ombachi also remembers that what also helped him through that dark phase of life was his hobby, cooking.
The winger had always loved food and cooking, a hobby that benefited from a career that took him all over the world.
“My love of food is intertwined with playing rugby because it started when playing the HSBC legs, you tour close to 18 countries a year and all these countries, they have their own culture, languages and food. We used to eat different kind of foods,” Ombachi tells CNN Sport.
“I used to come back home and challenge myself to try and create some of the different dishes I had here and there. I think that’s how the passion grew.”
In particular, renowned chef Gordon Ramsay was an inspiration for the house-bound athlete.
“Through his YouTube channel I managed to understand the fundamentals, the principles and how to use your tastebuds,” said Ombachi.
“That’s what actually got me through most of my depressive moments, especially the times I was injured,” he says before adding with a laugh, “In cooking, Gordon Ramsay was my mentor although he doesn’t know about it.”
When Ombachi returned to playing his career took another hit, this time in the shape of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the Sevens circuit canceled and the Kenya Rugby Union terminating his contract, Ombachi suddenly was once again stuck indoors and without an income.
So Ombachi got back in the kitchen. And with a DSLR camera that his former captain and mentor Humphrey Kayange brought back to him, Ombachi began making cooking videos and posting them on Instagram and Twitter.
He quickly developed a style that in his videos would set him apart from other content creators. These were rapid-fire videos, with Ombachi narrating and punctuating every step of the process by saying, “Done!”
Ombachi started off with a fairly large audience in Kenya as an athlete who was always very active on Twitter and Instagram, but it would be a different platform, TikTok, that would make Ombachi become a global phenomenon.
Specifically, it was a single video that made the player, now living permanently in Nairobi, explode.
“From time to time I cook plenty of food and then hand it out to the kids on the streets so I shot a video one time of me doing the same,” said Ombachi.
“I cooked, handed out the food and it went viral on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. From that video alone I managed to gain more than 300,000 followers.”
The video shows Ombachi preparing chicken stew with chapatis, boxing it up and handing out to children on a Nairobi street, now has over 15 million views on TikTok alone.
“I think this [cooking for street kids] comes from when I was back in high school. There was a time I was a little bit depressed, a little bit lost. So I decided to run away from school. I knew I didn’t want to go home. So I ran away and I was a street kid for a week.
“I made lots of street kid friends and it made me understand and empathize with them, that they are regular human beings just going through the same problems like all of us. My opportunities are just better than theirs. “
Just as when he was representing Kenya around the world, Dennis remembers his roots and the people he represents. That is one of the chief reasons he is so open with his mental health struggles.
According to the World Health Organization’s 2017 report on world mental health, Kenya was the fifth highest ranked country in Africa for cases of depression and that an estimated one in 10 people suffer from a common mental disorder.
The government set up a mental health taskforce in 2019 to address the crisis, but as a country that is overwhelmingly rurally based, there is a lot still needed to do.
Plenty of athletes and social media figures have used their platform to speak out about mental health and partner with organizations and charities to spread awareness.
Ombachi supports that work, but he also sees an important role for those with public profiles to simply embrace their struggles with mental health.
“If you have regular people living their regular life lives talking about it … then it hits the spot more.”
With two young children at home now, Ombachi is looking for a more stable lifestyle than that of a globetrotting rugby player.
He is also following in the footsteps of his “mentor” Gordon Ramsay and is setting up his own Nairobi based masterclass to teach people how to cook gourmet food.
by tyler | May 17, 2023 | CNN, sport
It’s not often a player who has yet to feature in the NBA has the sport’s established stars unanimously gushing.
“He’s like a [NBA] 2K created player, every point guard that wants to be seven foot. Cheat code type vibes,” said four-time NBA champion Steph Curry, while Kevin Durant added: “The league’s really in trouble when he comes in.”
But if you’ve seen anything of the seven-foot-four-inch French teenager Victor Wembanyama, you might understand why the 19-year-old has garnered the attention of the basketball world with his performances in the French professional league and is the widely presumed No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
He found out his likely destination in Tuesday’s draft lottery, which saw the San Antonio Spurs win the right to select first in the 2023 draft where they will likely select Wembanyama.
For over a year, teams have made efforts to increase their chances to be able to acquire Wembanyama. Stars have been traded away, contributing players have been released; all in an effort to have a worse regular season in order to increase their odds at the first pick.
With NBA champions, MVPs and All-Stars – LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Curry and Durant to name a few – all expressing their excitement at Wembanyama’s arrival in the US, analysts are likening his arrival in the league to that of James in 2003.
There have been few players whose journey to the pinnacle of basketball have been as highly followed; in figures released by the NBA, Wembanyama is No. 8 on its list of the top-10 most-viewed players on social media this season – despite not even being in the league yet.
‘Wembymania’ is in full flow, something author Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff has seen firsthand.
Krasnoff, author of the upcoming book ‘Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA,’ told CNN Sport that she and her students recently attended a Metropolitans 92 game – Wembanyama’s team – which was full to the rafters, something she had to reassure them wasn’t a regular occurrence.
“He wowed my American students who are used to seeing NBA games. They were really enthralled with it. And I keep having to explain to them that having a sold-out, 15,000-people crowd for a regular French professional basketball game is not normal at all,” she said.
“It is normal for when the NBA comes to town. But that’s once a year. This was not normal at all. I’ve been to Mets 92 games in past years. I was there the year that Boris Diaw came back and played and I was up in their stadium and it was maybe half full, maybe, being very generous. The crowd kind of watched the game, they were into it, but not that into it. I mean, just a vast, vast change.”
A career in sports was always likely for Wembanyama.
His father was a high jumper, his mother was a former basketball player who is now a coach and his two siblings – older sister Eve and younger brother Oscar – are basketball players.
Even his grandfather, Michel De Fautereau, played for Paris University Club in the 1960s in the topflight in France.
When he was young, Wembanyama tried many sports, including judo and football, as well as basketball.
But his first step in the career he’d eventually come to blossom in happened by chance.
The coach of basketball club Nanterre 92, Michaël Allard, happened to be watching an Under-11 match in which Wembanyama was playing.
Allard’s attention was drawn to an assistant coach on the bench – or so he thought. The assistant coach was in fact an 11-year-old Wembanyama and when he realized his mistake, he called the technical director of the Under-11 program at the French club to inform them of this prospect he’d discovered.
Wembanyama was immediately recruited by Nanterre where he moved up the youth ranks and learned the game as he dove head-first into the sport.
On top of that, Wembanyama’s physical growth has only added to the intrigue surrounding him. He has grown to seven feet, four inches tall, potentially making him one of the tallest players in the NBA, with an eight-foot wingspan.
However, it is his combination of size and skill with the ball which has made him such an intriguing talent.
Most players his size develop into a prototypical NBA center: good at shot-blocking, rebounding machines, known for the defense and threat close to the basket – just take Wembanyama’s compatriot, Rudy Gobert, for example.
But Wembanyama is different. He has become elite at handling the ball, dribbling, passing, jump shooting and from three-point range. Throw all of that together with being over seven feet tall and there is no wonder he’s being touted as the most exciting player to enter the league in 20 years.
In fact, James described Wembanyama as an “alien” and a “generational talent,” while two-time MVP Antetokounmpo said the NBA has “never seen someone like that before.”
Clips on social media of Wembanyama performing remarkable feats of athleticism or skill with the ball have gone viral this season, from crazy blocks or dunks to impressive, weaving in-and-out dribbling followed by a difficult long-range three-pointer.
And the French basketball system where he has been nurtured has helped develop his unique talent, says Krasnoff.
“I think kind of generally speaking, the French system is designed to detect and start to provide the means for talented young players to train while also pursuing their academic studies at the same time,” Krasnoff told CNN.
“So unlike the US system where sport is integrated into the school system, in France, as in many other parts of the world, that’s not the case. But the professional clubs, for example, do have this program where they take young promising players into their youth academy system where they are able to train in dedicated way with trainers, with medical support.”
In this focused environment, away from the distractions and bright lights that often come with college basketball in the US, Wembanyama has been able to grow into the multi-faceted player many are predicting will dominate in the NBA when he arrives.
He led the league in scoring, rebounding and blocks in his final season in French basketball, as well as shouldering the burden of being almost a one-man marketing campaign for the league.
Krasnoff recalls attending games around the country which were sold out – when they typically wouldn’t have been – just to catch a sight of Wembanyama.
Wembanyama’s arrival in the NBA could have a transformative effect on one franchise. But more than that, Krasnoff says the hope is it has a revolutionary effect on basketball culture in France; a country with a long history with the game, despite it being “a closeted sport.”
“Certainly, (his drafting) will probably continue to drive the NBA’s popularity in France. That was always kind of a given,” she said. “And it certainly has driven US interest in French basketball, at least as far as Wembanyama is concerned.
“Five years ago, when I would tell people I’m working on French basketball and why are there so many French guys in the NBA, people look at me as if I was an alien with five heads. Over the past six months, that’s totally changed.
“The French press calls him a unicorn. It’s fair and I think everyone recognizes that this is not normally how it’s going to be, but hopefully, it will drive greater awareness and attention, particularly ahead of Paris 2024, where basketball is acknowledged to be, in addition to track and field and swimming, perhaps one of the premier Olympic sports disciplines.”
Wembanyama’s only appearance on US soil only added to the fascination surrounding his abilities, as he played in two exhibition games last season against development team G League Ignite and scored 36 and 37 points respectively.
There are concerns that Wembanyama’s slender frame may lead to injuries down the line – as many players around his height have struggled before with injuries to their lower limbs.
Most notably, Yao Ming – after an illustrious career with the Houston Rockets – was forced to retire at the age of 31 with foot and ankle injuries. And more recently, Chet Holmgren – drafted last year by the Oklahoma City Thunder – missed his entire rookie season with a foot injury. But these injury concerns are not likely to dissuade any team from picking the Frenchman with the No. 1 pick.
Tickets to watch Wembanyama at his likely destination in San Antonio will be hot commodities if he is drafted by the five-time NBA champions as predicted.
Through the power of ‘Wembymania’ and the excitement around him, the upcoming season proves to be one of the most fascinating years in the NBA’s history.
