NEW YORK — Victor Wembanyama walked into his first NBA news conference Wednesday morning, took his seat and looked out at a maze of cameras and microphones that have been awaiting him for years.
And then he smiled.
“What’s up, everyone?” the French teenager said.
Seeming poised and completely ready for what awaits him, Wembanyama’s NBA chapter is now underway. The 2023 NBA draft — Wembanyama’s towering shadow has hung over it for months, blocking much of what is usually part of the process — is Thursday night in Brooklyn, and he’ll be selected No. 1 overall by the San Antonio Spurs.
“Ever since I knew about the draft, exactly how it worked, I wanted to be first,” Wembanyama said Wednesday. “I think I started to realize I could be a professional basketball player at the age of 12. Tomorrow something’s going to happen, something that I’ve been thinking (about) for years and years; I can’t really describe how I feel right now. I just know I’m going to have trouble sleeping tonight, for sure.”