The race to tank for Victor Wembanyama is going to headline the world of basketball for the next season. In the last few seasons, we have seen marginal playoff teams make runs to try and reach at least the play-in tournament and make a run at the playoffs. This season, everyone might be running toward the bottom to have a chance at drafting Wembanyama.
Wembanyama’s value is so generational that Bill Simmons believes that 26 out of the 30 teams in the league would take Wembanyama over their current star player. The only teams he exempted were the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Dallas Mavericks with Luka Doncic, the Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic, and the Golden State Warriors with Stephen Curry.
“So, KFC asked me where Wembanyama would rank in the trade value list right now. I went through the list I left off in the summer where Giannis was number one, then Luka, then Jokic, then Steph, Ja, Embiid, Edwards, Tatum, and so on. Milwaukee is not trading Giannis for him, Dallas is not trading Luka for him, and Denver is not trading Jokic for him, so cross those 3 off the list. Golden State is having a 7-hour meeting, actually, it might be a 2-day meeting where they might sleep in the office or they meet the next day and ultimately realize that they absolutely cannot trade Steph.”
Whether this actually holds true might be up for debate, but this is another testament to the incredible impression Wembanyama has left on the league after his 2-game exhibition against the G League Ignite.
Would Any Other Player Be Protected?
From a basketball perspective, the Los Angeles Lakers may have a better bet with Victor than LeBron James, considering LeBron’s age and Victor’s entire career being in front of him. However, it is LeBron James, and he brings billions of dollars worth of attention to the team. From a marketing perspective, it might not be in the Lakers’ best interests.
Outside of that, it seems like a compelling argument for other teams to want Victor over their current star player. However, that is unrealistic. The Boston Celtics might not want to give up Jayson Tatum based on the proven pattern of his performances for the team. Wembanyama does bring a lot of risk with him, something that some of these teams may not want to gamble on.
The $500 million that Wembanyama could add to the value of a franchise will be tempting, so anything is possible when it comes to generational draft prospects.
