By Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – Victor Wembanyama was selected first overall by the San Antonio Spurs at the NBA Draft in New York on Thursday, making the highly touted phenom the highest drafted French player in league history.
The 19-year-old “Wemby” comes into the league with a buzz that has not been seen since LeBron James, the league’s all-time leading scorer, was drafted out of high school twenty years ago.
Wembanyama shed tears of joy after he heard his name called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
“I’ve accomplished something that I’ve been dreaming of my whole life,” he said.
“Hearing that sentence from Adam Silver, I dreamed about it. I’ve got to cry.”
At 7’4″, Wembanyama has the size of a center but the ball handling, passing and shooting abilities of a guard, a jaw-dropping combination with the potential to revolutionize the sport.
He is dangerous shooting the ball from distance and athletic enough to rebound and dunk his own misses if necessary.
With a wing span of close to eight feet, he can block shots and grab rebounds with ease and gets up and down the floor quickly for a player of his size.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
