Let’s take a look ahead at the 2023 NBA Draft and the likely number one overall pick, Victor Wembanyana. While the 2022 NBA Draft just concluded and a whole new wave of rookies are getting ready to take over the National Basketball Association, it’s time to look ahead. The 2023 NBA Draft class is once again an absolutely loaded class full of future superstars. However, next season’s number one pick is already known, an entire calendar year in advance and it’s going to be Victor Wembanyama. He is perhaps one of the greatest prospects of all time and if there was ever a time to openly tank in the National Basketball Association, the 2022-23 season is that time.
Victor Wembanyana comes from a very athletic family as his father is a former Olympic long jumper, while his mother and sister both played basketball. His sister is a former Gold Medal winner as well. By the age of ten years old, his mother and father were already turning down offers from some of the bigger teams in the European basketball landscape like Barcelona.
What To Expect From Victor Wembanyana
The seven foot two inch tall, 229-pound Frechman is an absolute freak of nature and is going to be a huge star in the league in my opinion. He is a double-double machine and has been since his younger teen days. He has already won the Pro A league best young player award twice in 2019 and 2020 and is considered by many to be the best European prospect of this generation and potentially all time.
As an eighteen year old in his first year in the Euroleague in limited minutes, he averaged nearly seven points per game and four rebounds per game as well. He shot 67% from the Free Throw Line which is impressive for a man of his size. He is sure to double those numbers with an increase of minutes during the 2022-23 season.
Victor Wembanyana once set the record for blocks in a single game at the 2021 FIBA Under 19 World Cup when he recorded eight of them in a two-point loss to the United States. Wembanyana also dropped twenty plus points and added eight rebounds in that game as well. He would go on to lead France to a silver medal in that tournament and was named to the all-tournament team as well. His seven feet eight-inch wingspan is going to be an absolutely lethal trait for whatever team picks him first overall in the 2023 NBA Draft next June.
If he can continue to develop a three pointer and adapt it to the NBA range then it will not be long before an All-Rookie First team selection and a Rookie Of The Year award turns into All-NBA selection, All-Defensive first-team selections, and a couple of Most Valuable Player awards. Victor Wembanyana could potentially end up being better than Luka Doncic, Dirk, Giannis, and Jokic. He is so highly touted and all signs point to him living up to that potential at this moment in time as well.
Where Victor Wembanyana Could Go
While the draft is a long way away, the predictions have Victor Wembanyana as a clear favorite to be the number one overall pick ahead of guys like Scoot Henderson from the G-League Ignite, Nick Smith from The University Of Arkansas, Ausar and Amen Thompson from Overtime Elite, and Cameron Whitemore from The University Of Villanova. Victor Wembenyana is currently projected to play alongside Josh Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the newest addition Chet Holmgren as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
However, he could end up in Disney as a member of the Orlando Magic alongside Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, and their newest addition and 2022 number one overall pick Paolo Banchero. Perhaps coach Pop and his San Antonio Spurs could make a move for yet another legendary Frechman as well. Regardless of where Victor Wembanyana ends up playing his professional basketball in the National Basketball Association, there is no doubt we will be watching potentially one of the greatest stars of his generation and perhaps all time.
