Maybe Victor Wembanyama really is an alien.
How else do you explain a 20-year-old athletic specimen who can cite astrophysics while speaking a second language?
Before receiving his Rookie of the Year trophy, Wemby spent time with local children at a San Antonio Education Center & Planetarium. When the press conference came, the gifted basketball player was asked about the subject matter, literally, about which he had spoken to the students.
“What is dark matter? I like these kinds of questions because they’re different,” Wembanyama all but gushed.
“Dark matter is a mass we can’t see, but we know is there because it has influence on gravitational pulls and the speed of gravitational orbits in every galaxy,” Wemby said as he educated most adults in the room. “It’s presence inside galaxies is five times higher than regular matter, so it’s a huge mystery. We can’t see it. We can’t observe it, but we can observe its influence. This is dark matter.”
A generational talent with what might be a generational mind as well.
Victor Wembanyama as the Alien
The nickname with which Wemby credits LeBron James is now in full effect. Nike has produced a couple of alien-themed Victor Wembanyama commercials recently.
“The relationship with Nike makes sense to me and it feels good. I can’t see a more ambitious brand and that my matches my own ambition,” the Spurs’ leading scorer said Saturday. “I like how they’re proposing a lot of things for me to do. They’re taking initiatives. They’re thinking ahead, outside of the box. I think it’s a very beneficial relationship. It’s working so far. As always, there’s more to accomplish and we what we’ve done so far is not enough. We want to do more.”
Quite the day for Wemby
In between the educational lesson on dark matter for the students and the presentation of the award, the Spurs showed a video based on a message that was written and narrated by Victor Wembanyama.
“Especially today when a player gets an award, I’m realistic. I know videos of myself are going to be on the Internet and they’re going to talk about the winning the award, but there’s so much more to this. To me, it’s always important to recognize each other’s greatness and value,” the first pick in last summer’s draft said about why he crafted the three-minute message.
“Very heartfelt,” he responded when asked about viewing the piece, which Spurs employees edited. “It was my first time seeing the video. It was great. I didn’t expect it to have so much content from years back on it. It gave me goosebumps.
“[In] The oldest videos I was seven [years old] or eight. It was my second year of basketball, so it was rare.”
From Wemby’s point of view, the tribute was the least he could do.
“This is not enough, this is barely something. I want to keep the momentum going and let everybody know that they’re part of the family and they’re part of the story. I believe in them, the fans, my teammates, the staff. I believe in them as much as I think they believe in me. To me, it’s not only important to know it, but also to show it.”
An out-of-this world perspective from an out-of-this-world athlete who enjoys discussions about subjects that are out of this world.
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