Victor Wembanyama's debut to be top-pick showdown in Las Vegas
The San Antonio Spurs announced Wednesday that rookie center Victor Wembanyama will not be traveling with the team to Sacramento, Calif., for the California Classic Summer League, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN . This sets the No. 1 pick up for a Spurs debut in Las Vegas at the NBA 2K24 Summer League, where he will face off with No. 2 pick forward Brandon Miller.
Unlike most of the players drafted in the 2023 NBA Draft, Wembanyama is fresh off his most recent season of basketball. The 7-foot, 3.5-inch big man laced them up for the French team Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, who played in the Betclic Élite LNB Pro A championship series.
After losing the league's championship series in three games, Wembanyama now turns his sights toward the NBA. While his other 2023 draft contemporaries have largely been done with basketball since February or March, Wembanyama's season ended on June 15.
As a result, the Spurs will not see Wembanyama's debut during their first series of summer games in Sacramento. San Antonio was slated to play two games in California, facing off with the Charlotte Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Instead, Wembanyama's debut will come against the Hornets in Las Vegas on July 7. This will be the first contest of San Antonio's four-game set in Nevada, with the others scheduled against the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons.
The hype around the matchup is already starting to build and the game will be streamed on ESPN. The last time Wembanyama played in Nevada, he faced off with now-Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson in October 2022 for a two-game series between the Metropolitans 92 and the NBA G League Ignite. Wembanyama averaged 36.5 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Mets 92 in those two games.
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