Meet Victor Wembanyama, the 2023 NBA Drat prospect that every tanking team has their eyes locked on.
We may still be in the dog days of the NBA offseason, but there are already plenty that has happened this summer to suggest there will be stiff competition between the teams that will be gunning for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
There are more than a few teams that made the necessary moves this offseason that would suggest they are moving toward a full-blown rebuild (if that wasn’t clear before). In other words, they are set to join the ranks of other teams that will be looking to continue to build their rosters through the draft.
And while the 2022 NBA Draft was considered by some not as strong as we’ve seen before, that will certainly not be so heading into the 2023 NBA Draft. And there’s one player projected at the top of the 2023 draft class that could be the next generational talent in the league.
Meet Victor Wembanyama.
Who is Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama is an 18-year-old french prospect that is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He stands at 7-foot-2 but moves more like a guard or wing than he does a traditional big. He’s long, athletic, and moves as smooth – or even smoother – than Kevin Durant.
This is not to say that he’s going to be as good as Durant, but that’s to put a barometer of where his potential stands. He has no ceiling and has the potential to be the next great international superstar in the NBA. He’s young and still raw but has shown enough that many around the league believe he can be a “once-in-a-lifetime” talent.
Victor played for ASVEL last season but is rumored to be on the move. The belief is that Victor is going to spend his final season playing in Europe before entering the NBA Draft and making the move to the States.
Teams that will be tanking for Victor Wembanyama
Assuming that Victor continues to play at a high level, the hype around him as a prospect will only rise. It’s not too early to try to predict which teams will be trying to tank for Victor. At least for now, there are a few teams that are expected to be in on trying to land the No. 1 overall pick.
The teams that have gone all-in on a rebuild this offseason are the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz (once they trade Donovan Mitchell). The teams that are already in the midst of long rebuilds to keep an eye on this tanking race are the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, and Detroit Pistons.
A few teams that could enter the race that will be bad (more so because they can’t help it) are the Charlotte Hornets and Sacramento Kings.
Either way, it should make an interesting tanking ranking season. And the prize for 2023 will be Victor.
How good can Victor Wembanyama be?
So the question remains, how good can Victor Wembanyama actually be? And that’s, predictably, not an easy question to answer. On paper, there will likely be many that will say Victor has the chance to be the next Giannis Antetokounmpo. So will say he has the chance to be even better.
For now, what to look for next season is how Victor looks in a more expanded role. He is coming off a season with ASVEL in which he only played 18 minutes per contest. That said, he still managed to average nine points and five rebounds on 47 percent shooting from the field.
If you extrapolate that, his Per 36 numbers look really good – 18 points and 10 rebounds. However, it will be interesting to see if giving him a larger role this next season changes that. It’s something that many NBA scouts will have a keen eye on.
Either way, get to now Victor Wembanyama. Learn his name. You’re going to be hearing it more and more over the next year. And there’s a very real chance he could end up being the next generational talent in the NBA.