By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Joining the French national team’s training camp ahead of his first-ever Olympic Games, Victor Wembanyama attended an official press conference to share his excitement regarding such an extraordinary event representing his country.
Asked about his sensations toward the Olympics, he spoke like on cloud nine. “The Olympic Games have always been a dream, but as I grew older, it became a goal”, he said before sharing praising words for all the French talents who were drafted last night.
“If we’ve done it twice in a row, it means we can do it a third and why not a fourth time”, he said about having a French player as 1st overall pick, like it happened to him and this year to Zaccharie Risacher. Alexander Sarr (2nd pick), Tidjane Salaun (6th pick), and Pacome Dadiet (25th) were also selected.
Wemby’s position on French upcoming elections
Victor Wembanyama also made sure he sent a political statement ahead of the upcoming national elections in France. “Political choices are personal but for me, it is important to move away from extremes. For a country like ours, this is not at all the direction we should take. Even though it’s very personal, that’s how I feel”, he commented as collected by BeBasket.
In his first-ever NBA season after being selected with the 1st overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the 20-year-old generational talent was named Rookie of the Year with the San Antonio Spurs, averaging outstanding numbers: 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per night.
After Killian Hayes and Ousmane Dieng were cut, the French national team’s roster currently relies on 17 players ahead of the most important event in recent times. Head coach Vincent Collet, therefore, will need to remove five more names from his list ahead of the Olympic Games.
Directly qualified for the Olympics as host of the event, France has been drawn into Group B with 2023 FIBA World Cup champions Germany, the best Asian classified team last year Japan, and the winner of the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Latvia.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA
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