Victor Wembanyama felt the love from the Paris crowd from the moment his name was announced.
It didn’t stop there. When he walked out to center court, took a microphone and said “bonjour” to the crowd pregame, another 30 seconds of cheering exploded inside the Accor Arena in Paris. The young French star returned home with his NBA team — for a two-game set between the Spurs and Pacers — and was greeted with a hero’s welcome.
He didn’t disappoint — he put on a 30-point show in the Spurs comfortable 140-110 win.
The game’s biggest highlight was Wembanyama throwing an alley-oop to himself off the backboard.
This was a great moment for the NBA and the game of basketball, even if the Pacers didn’t particularly enjoy it. The NBA is a global game — the last six NBA MVPs were born outside the United States, and this season that very likely becomes seven (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from Canada or Nikola Jokic from Serbia) — and as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and the current generation that has been the face of the game steps away, Wembanyama will be the star that replaces them.
Wemby is loved in San Antonio and by basketball fans across the United States. But he will never be loved there like he is in Paris, where he gave his hometown a show on Thursday.
