How far will "Wembamania" go?
The nugget of French basketball, Victor Wembanyama, continues to arouse enthusiasm.
While the French basketball team must play against Lithuania, Sunday February 26, its last qualifying match for the World Cup-2023 (August 25-September 10 in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines), the economic impact and media coverage of this young 19-year-old player seems limitless.
Already qualified for the World Cup since the fall, the Blues will still play sold out in the Arena Loire de Trélazé, just next to Angers.
The 5,000 tickets put on sale on November 22 were sold out in barely an hour.
A "Wembanyama effect" which the French Basketball Federation (FFBB) must get used to.
"What we are currently experiencing with Victor is an enthusiasm similar to what we experienced in 2003 after Tony Parker's first NBA title. At the time, it was unprecedented and EuroBasket-2003 remains to this day the competition where we established our record of accredited French journalists [about fifty, editor's note]. Perhaps this record will be beaten in the coming years thanks to Victor Wembanyama", explains Fabrice Canet, the attaché of French team press.
Because that's the whole paradox: the career of "Wemby", as he calls himself, is just beginning and he has yet to impose himself at the highest level.
With 22.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks on average per game with the Boulogne-Levallois club, he certainly displays very good statistics, which make him the best scorer, the best rebounder and the best blocker. of the French championship, while also breaking several records since the start of the season, but it is "only" the Betclic Elite.
Victor Wembanyama has not yet proven himself in the Euroleague, has not yet measured himself against the stars of the NBA and has never played any international competition with the Blues.
Against Lithuania on Sunday evening, it will only be his fourth selection for the France team.
Lionel Jospin and Michael Douglas in the stands
Never mind, since Victor Wembanyama has established himself as one of the greatest hopes in world basketball thanks to an ease in the game never seen in the history of basketball for a player of this size (2.19 m), he is regularly quoted to become the first choice of the next NBA draft – the annual scholarship for young players of the famous North American league – and all his matches are now sold out.
>> To read: Victor Wembanyama, "an alien" of basketball, according to LeBron James
“Even if our rooms already had occupancy rates of 70% to 80%, it is undeniable that there is a Wembanyama effect”, enthuses the president of the National Basketball League (LNB), Alain Béral.
"Everywhere his team is playing, tickets are selling out in record time and the halls are full. Everyone wants to see him before he flies to the States."
At the Marcel-Cerdan sports hall in Levallois, where the "Metropolitans" play, there is a permanent parade of personalities: former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, a basketball fan, came to observe the phenomenon, as did the former footballer Nicolas Anelka, the actor Roschdy Zem or the artist Grand Corps Malade.
Even the American star Michael Douglas has already come twice to the Parisian suburbs to see Victor Wembanyama play.
🎬🍿 Victor Wembanyama already has a big fan and his name is Michael Douglas...#BetclicELITE #LNBextra @beinsports_FR @NBAextra @vicw_32 pic.twitter.com/HJHIYtTpyt
– LNB (@LNBofficiel) December 11, 2022
But the fervor around the young prodigy undoubtedly peaked on January 19, during the NBA match organized in Paris between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons.
Present for the occasion in the French capital, Magic Johnson, the former glory of the Los Angeles Lakers "showtime" era of the 1980s, posted on Twitter a photo of him alongside the Frenchman, calling him outright "best player in the world". world".
I had the chance to meet and talk to the best player in the world and this year's number one pick in the NBA draft Victor Wembanyama!
pic.twitter.com/2KT4NCFVrE
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 20, 2023
“This media frenzy around Victor is an excellent thing for French basketball, believes Alain Béral. It allows us to show that our league is rich in talent, that we offer a great show and it helps us to attract new economic partners. "
Boulogne-Levallois matches broadcast by the NBA
The presence of Victor Wembanyama in the French championship is indeed a boon for the boss of the LNB.
Not only is the French league talking about it beyond the restricted circle of orange ball enthusiasts, but it was even able to resell the rights to broadcast the Boulogne-Levallois matches to the NBA.
The most prestigious basketball league in the world has been regularly promoting on its various platforms, since the end of October, a player who does not even play in his own championship yet.
So much so that most NBA stars have already been invited by the media to give their opinion on their future opponent and the famous American magazine Sports Illustrated devotes its "one" to him.
Victor Wembanyama is a 7'3” prodigy from France, and he's the best NBA prospect in a generation@vicw_32 stars on the March cover of SI: https://t.co/hqzc5r0F3V pic.twitter.com/NEbe7p0BA6
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 21, 2023
Last year, the qualifying matches for the World Cup, in which Wembanyama did not yet participate, attracted only about fifteen journalists.
In Trélazé, no less than 48 journalists will be accredited on Sunday for a match without much at stake – France having already qualified for the World Cup.
All came to see "Wemby", who said this week that he wanted to be present at the world in six months.
While waiting to find out if his future NBA club will let him join the France team next summer, the FFBB is busy.
Several preparation matches in large halls, in August, are planned in front of the French public, with the key to significant receipts in ticketing and derivative products.
The Wembanyama jersey of the Blues flocked with the number 32 has already become a must.
Put on sale earlier this week on the Federation's website, three out of four sizes are already out of stock.
Fans who wish to buy it on Sunday evening, during the France-Lithuania match, are warned: they will have to arrive early at the hall to hope to leave with the precious sesame.
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