Victor Wembanyama, 7-foot-5-inch-tall French giant with wingspan of 8 feet, stands in way of USA’s 5th straight basketball gold (2024)
When the American basketball team makes its bid to win its fifth consecutive Olympics gold medal at Paris 2024, standing in their way impeding their path will be a familiar foe: Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-5-inch-tall Frenchman who wears size 21 shoes and has a wingspan of eight feet.
Wembanyama, or Wemby as he is popularly called, is coming into his home Olympics with plenty of hype and expectations for a 20-year-old. But also with the tools to justify those expectations.
Just ask LeBron James or Steph Curry.
“He doesn’t have a ceiling. There are guys in the NBA you have to account for any time you get around the rim or the perimeter. Wembanyama’s right at the top of that list with all the greats,” LeBron James said in February this year after playing against Wembanyama’s Spurs in an NBA clash where the young French rookie’s stat line read: 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, five steals and five blocks. “We’ve had other players who have been great this early in their career. But what he has above all others is his length.”
Wembanyama’s 7-foot-5-inch height coupled with his lanky arms make it near impossible to score over him when he positions himself in the paint as Curry found out when Golden State Warriors played the Spurs in November last year.
Quick look at Victor Wembanyama's warmup routine before the game versus Lithuania 👀 pic.twitter.com/AIC9TOPxR0
“With him on the floor, you can’t do things you normally do. He blocked my floater. And I don’t even think he jumped. Just knocked the ball away. He catches you by surprise by the things that he does because of his stature out there. You just have to be very mindful of where he is. If you try to go through him or over him, it’s going to lead to nothing.”
Even before he made his NBA debut, ESPN had called Wembanyama the “most anticipated basketball prospect in 20 years” (the last player to get so much hype before being drafted in the NBA was LeBron). It was an assessment Wembanyama more than justified in his first season: averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and a league-leading 3.6 blocks per game to win the Rookie of the Year Award.
He was also second in the voting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, behind countryman Rudy Gobert.
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With Gobert and Wembanyama playing together for the French team at the Olympics, any team, even the almighty Americans, will find it hard to score at will against the French side.
“I can’t wait to face them (USA). It will be a very interesting matchup,” Wembanyama had said at a press conference in Paris recently throwing down the gauntlet. “As a basketball player, it’s also a dream to play against Team USA and against all those legends.”
In the last couple of years, that veneer of invincibility that the American basketball team wore since the heady days of the Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics has started to fade.
At Tokyo 2020, they won gold, sure. But that was a tough title to wrest away from France, who had handed USA a defeat in the group stage and then pushed the Americans all the way in the final. Team USA eventually won the gold medal by a margin of five slender points — 87-82 — after outliving a late fourth-quarter rally in the final.
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Away from the grand stage of the Olympics too, things have not gone smoothly for the American basketball team. At the FIBA World Cup, they were ousted from the competition without a medal. In two successive editions, the latest being in 2023!
No surprises then that the American basketball team flying to France for the Paris Olympics consists of bonafide superstars like LeBron (playing internationally for the first time since 2012), Curry (who will play in his debut Games) and Kevin Durant (who was in the team at Tokyo). If those names are not enough, the team also has Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Joel Embiid.
With the gold medal on their minds, the Americans are travelling to France with their big guns. But the host nation might just have the tallest gunslinger on their side.
The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. It is the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in all nineteen Olympic tournaments it has entered, including sixteen golds.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › United_States_men's_national...
makes its bid to win its fifth consecutive Olympics gold medal at Paris 2024, standing in their way impeding their path will be a familiar foe: Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-5-inch-tall Frenchman who wears size 21 shoes and has a wingspan of eight feet.
His height, along with an estimated 8ft wingspan, makes for a profile tailor-made for a centre who can be destructive in and around the basket. But Wembanyama has said himself that he does not want to just play in that position.
His grandfather, Michel de Fautereau, played professional basketball, and his grandmother, Marie-Christine, also played the sport. Wembanyama played football as a goalkeeper and practised judo before focusing on basketball.He learned to play basketball from his mother, who was coaching youth teams.
On the Spurs official roster, Wembanyama is listed at 7-foot-4. However, there is some disparity in Wembanyama's height, as the NBA listed his height at 7 feet, 3 1/2 inches after the 2023 NBA Draft. "He plays the right way, plays to win. I've never seen anything like him.
Who is the tallest player in NBA history? Gheorghe Muresan and Manute Bol are the tallest people to ever play in the NBA at 7-foot-7. Tacko Fall, Yao Ming, Slavko Vranes and Shawn Bradley are just a smidge shorter at 7-foot-6.
During an appearance on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said that Wembanyama can stand with his feet on the ground and "pretty much" touch the rim.
As of 2024, twenty-seven players have been listed at 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) or taller. However, only three are active as of the 2023–24 season: Boban Marjanović of the Houston Rockets, Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Bol Bol of the Phoenix Suns.
Most men continue to grow until they turn 21, with some continuing to spring up into their 20s. In Wembanyama's case, it looks like he added some height. Sidy Cissoko seems to think Wemby is growing, saying, "He looks like he's still growing up, one day he looks like he's 7-3, 7-4, and the next day, he's like 7-5."
He taught himself English during his early teen years because he knew he would one day play in the NBA, and he believed it was the language of “basketball people.” According to the Associated Press, he learned by watching English-speaking television shows.
Meaning "conqueror," Victor is one of the oldest Christian names, championed as a tribute to Christ's victory over sin and death. Yet, the name also holds merit in the literary world, thanks to the works of esteemed French writer Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables.
While teens his age often engage in video games and various off-court activities, Victor sets himself apart. His interests include reading fiction, drawing, and visiting art galleries during his free time. Since a young age, he has seen himself and the game of basketball as an art form.
At 7-7, Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muresan are the tallest players in NBA history. At 5-3, Muggsy Bogues is the shortest. Here are photos that truly represent the biggest height differences ever in the NBA, beginning with aforementioned Bol (left) with Bogues (right), at a height difference of 28 inches.
According to recent data, there are currently around 40 players in the NBA who are 7 feet or taller. This represents a significant increase compared to previous decades. The influx of taller players can be attributed to the evolution of the game and the increasing emphasis on versatility and size in the modern NBA.
Some of these NBA players have shoe sizes up to 20, which goes beyond the standard sizes of 9-12. According to Interbasket, Shaquille O'Neal has the biggest shoe size in NBA history at 22.
At 7 feet 6 inches tall, he had the longest wingspan in league history, measuring 8 feet 6 inches. In two seasons, Bol had the most blocks in the league (1986, 1989). I am a sports enthusiast who can't imagine being in any other industry.
Introduction: My name is Melvina Ondricka, I am a helpful, fancy, friendly, innocent, outstanding, courageous, thoughtful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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