Fresh off a run at the Paris Olympic games this summer, rising NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama is gearing up for his second regular season in the NBA. As much as the young big man wants to win with the San Antonio Spurs, he’d actually rather lead his home country (France) to Olympic gold on the international stage.
“Olympic gold medal would mean the most right now because you can win way less in a career. It’s much more rare,” Wembanyama said via Sports Illustrated.
Victor Wembanyama isn’t the only one to feel this way. Carmelo Anthony, who retired without a championship, said that he’d rather have his gold medals because of the importance of representing his country. Wembanyama feels a similar sense of pride suiting up for France and you can’t blame him for wanting to achieve that ultimate victory.
So while winning an NBA championship has often been described as the pinnacle of basketball achievement, not everyone agrees. As controversial as it sounds, Victor Wembanyama isn’t the only NBA star to hold this view, and other Olympic veterans (like Carmelo Anthony) have spoken up in the past.
The truth is, playing for your country is a different feeling than playing for your NBA team. It comes with a different level of pride and passion to play for your nation on the world stage, which every country is watching. As a French native, there’s no question where Victor’s loyalties lie and he was a star for them this summer during their latest Olympic run.
Victor, who is still just 20 years old, averaged 15.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.7 blocks per game on 42.2% shooting and 28.9% shooting from 3. He led France to the final tournament game, securing the silver medal after a tough loss to Team USA.
Clearly, Wemby’s Olympic experience was highly memorable and he’s more eager to play for his country than he’s ever been before. Sadly, Wembanyama will have to wait some time before he gets another chance to compete for the gold medal.
The Olympics run on a four-year cycle, and the next tournament games aren’t scheduled until 2028 in Los Angeles. Unless Wembanyama wants to suit up for the FIBA World Cup, the only taste of victory he’ll be getting is with the Spurs.
This season, with the addition of Chris Paul, Victor has big ambitions for his team and has strong faith in their ability to improve from their abysmal run last year (they lost 18 straight games). Of course, Paul will not be enough to make the Spurs a contender but he can lay the groundwork for improvement that will get them closer to success.
This upcoming campaign will be a big test for Victor and his Spurs in gauging just how close they are to being a threat in the Western Conference. It will be a long road to the top but Wemby is hungry to compete and win both at the NBA level and on the world stage at the next Olympic games.
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