The NBA Draft is an exciting time for fans as well as franchises in the league. After all, they get to welcome the next crop of talented players to the NBA. But the hype of the prospects begins before the draft is even in sight.
This is certainly what is happening in the case of the French phenom Victor Wembanyama. While scouts have been keeping an eye on the 18-year-old for a long time, the rest of the world seemingly got to know a lot more about him over the last few weeks.
The reason behind Vic’s sudden increased hype is that he played two games on American soil against G league teams. The 7’4″ has impressed everyone in just those two games.
So much so that many have claimed that Wembanyama is the best draft prospect in the history of the league. In fact, Richard Jefferson went as far as saying that if LeBron James and Wemby were in the same draft class, Vic would be picked ahead of LeBron.
Richard Jefferson Defends His Comments
Evidently, Jefferson caught a lot of heat from NBA fans for making the claim that Vic would go higher than James if they were in the same draft class. The reason is obvious: James is considered arguably the best draft prospect in the history of the league.
But Jefferson calmly defended his point and explained that historically, NBA franchises tend to prefer size when it comes to drafting a new player.
(Starts at 1:00):
“When I said that LeBron James would probably go number two in this exact same draft, let me explain to you history. Where did Michael Jordan go? Michael Jordan went three, why? There were two bigs taken in front of him. You had Sam Bowie and you had Hakeem Olajuwon. The NBA will always go with the size, that’s just the way it is. We’re talking about Michael Jordan. Hit the game-winning shot as a national champion freshman, all the hype from at that time. Fast forward, where did Luka Doncic go? He went third behind DeAndre Ayton and Marvin Bagley. Teams always go with size.
LeBron James at 6’7, who is the most hyped partly because he lived here. If Wembanyama had been going to Oak Hill and was from Georgia, we would be freaking out over him. It’s because he’s from France. So, when I tell you this … Kevin Durant, went number two to the big man.”
Jefferson mentioned several examples in the clip. The biggest example which would help his point get to other NBA fans is of Michael Jordan being drafted at the number three spot in the 1984 NBA Draft.
But at the same time, when NBA fans debated about picking between an 18-year-old LeBron James and Victor Wembanyama, they tilted toward James. At the end of the day, this is one of those debates where getting a concrete answer is next to impossible. The best thing to do is to simply enjoy the two players playing basketball at an elite level.
