Who is Victor Wembanyama's brother? Looking at siblings of 7'5" NBA draft prospect and his relation with them
NBA prospect Victor Wembanyama has quickly cemented his place as one of the most highly sought after prospects in quite some time. Between his combination of size, skills and basketball IQ in a 7-foot-5 frame, Wembanyama is the total package. In fact, Wembanyama has been dubbed potentially the most-anticipated prospect ever.
As it turns out, Wembanyama isn't the only one in his family to play basketball. His older sister, Eve, plays professional basketball, and his brother, Oscar, is a 6-6 basketball player as well. In addition to playing handball, Oscar Wembanyama helped lead the French U15 team to a national title in basketball.
Of course, it isn't just the Wembanyama kids who have been avid athletes, their parents were athletes, too. The three siblings' father, Felix, was a track and field athlete, while their mother, Eloidie de Fautereau, is a basketball coach who also played basketball.
Given that, it's no wonder Oscar was able to make the transition to basketball in his teenage years. In an interview with EuroLeageBasketball.net earlier this month, he said that he played very little basketball growing up. As it turns out, handball was his passion.
"In my city, all my friends did it," Oscar Wembanyama said. "That's what made me appreciate the sport. I think I was considered a prospect, you could say. I played very little basketball, just with my mother because she organized training courses for children. I got into it in a club last year. I had been considering doing it for a year.
"My sister and my brother were both French champions, and that was my goal from the start of the season, even though I was just starting basketball. It was incredible. I felt proud, of course, and it was the accomplishment of my whole season. Especially for my first year."
Is Victor Wembanyama the most skilled prospect of all time?
NBA fans may remember a time when Larry Bird once famously proclaimed that there was a big man at LSU who was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. The player in question, of course, was none other than Shaquille O'Neal.
With a combination of size, strength and agility unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, O'Neal, the No. 1 pick in the 1992 draft, and the backboards he left in his wake became a sensation.
Other generational top picks are already in the Hall of Fame: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1969, Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984 and Patrick Ewing in 1985. Abdul-Jabbar was the Player of the Year and the NCAA champion in all three seasons at UCLA (when freshmen were ineligible for varsity basketball). The draft of Ewing, a year after Olajuwon, led to the institution of the draft lottery.
Plus, future HOF member LeBron James went first in 2003.
The anticipation surrounding the arrival of Wembanyama feels remarkably similar.
At 7-5, Wembanyama will immediately become the tallest player in the league, giving him an advantage over the competition. At the same time, with his guard-like handles, any big man who tries to match up with him on the perimeter will be left in the dust. Add onto that a lethal 3-point shot, and it's clear he can do it all.
When he joins the league, there have been predictions that he could be the first rookie to earn an All-Star selection since Blake Griffin in 2011. As the draft rapidly approaches, it will be interesting to see how things play out.