Victor Wembanyama Adds to Unique Offseason with New Appearance

Wembanyama Pays Visit to NASA

Friday afternoon, NASA took to X, formerly Twitter to share photos of Wembanyama's recent visit. The tour included the Vehicle Mockup Facility, Mission Control and a ride in a lunar rover.

"He even signed the hatch like a true space VIP," NASA wrote.

At the end of his rookie season, Wembanyama added science to his known list of interests. After answering a few questions about his new hardware during his Rookie of the Year press conference — coincidentally at a planetarium — he explained dark matter.

“Dark matter is a mass we can’t see," he said, "but we know (it) is there because it has influence on gravitational pulls and the speed of gravitational orbits in every galaxy."

Its mystery hooked Wembanyama.

"We can’t see it," the San Antonio Spurs' star said. "We can’t observe it, but we can observe its influence. This is dark matter.”

Last season, Wembanyama averaged 24.3 points, 11 rebounds and a league-leading 3.8 blocks per game on 47 percent shooting from the field. He was on pace for the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award, a spot on 1-of-3 All-NBA squads and potentially the league's Most Improved Player of the Year Award, but fell short of all recognition due to a lack of games played.

Wembanyama focused on recovering from deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder over the offseason while simultaneously scratching things off his bucket list. The 21-year-old trained with Shaolin Monks in China; hosted a chess, basketball fusion event in France; and worked out with Kevin Garnett in one summer.

Now, he adds a trip to NASA to his résumé. Perhaps he's due for another press conference to explain his findings further.