By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Sharing the court together in the 2022-23 LNB season with Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, Victor Wembanyama and Bilal Coulibaly are now both in the NBA respectively with the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Wizards, being selected with the 1st pick and the 7th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Interviewed by Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, the explosive and defensive-minded forward praised the French generational talent. “Yeah, he’s different. He’s a great guy, for real. Humble. I think everybody knows it. But he’s really smart. Like, really, really smart. Sometimes I feel like he’s older than a lot of us. I feel like, how he speaks, his approach to everything. Whatever he’s doing, he’s really thinking about it”, he commented on his peer and countryman.
“That was the thing that we really wanted: playing in Roland-Garros. That big gym. Being on that stage. I was 18, he was 19. We were so young. We just loved the moment”, he also said about playing the LNB Finals against AS Monaco on the Roland-Garros tennis court.
Some hours before the 2023 NBA Draft, Victor Wembanyama himself spoke highly about his former teammate in the LNB. “He’ll fit very well because he’s actually 6-8 with a 7-3 wingspan. And, you know, often players, cheat on their measurements. But we don’t do that in France. He probably looks small compared to me, but he’s not. And let me tell you something, people were shocked when they came to my team to get the medicals. He can be just so valuable to an NBA team. I’m sure of it”, he first said.
He then went on to add interesting things about Bilal Coulibaly. “His mix of agility, athleticism, skills, speed, shooting, defense. He can guard four positions out of five, and he can play multiple positions on offense. He’s just so complete as a player. And he plays at a level, he performs against competition that is light-years away from many prospects in our draft class. So, yeah, I believe he’s top five”, Victor Wembanyama commented.
Playing in three NBA preseason games with the Washington Wizards, the 19-year-old forward has been averaging 8.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game with 42.9% from beyond the arc, and 83.3% at the line. Victor Wembanyama, instead, has had 19.3 points and 5.0 boards with the Spurs thus far.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images