Fitter, stronger Wembanyama eyes return

SAN ANTONIO (AFP) — Victor Wembanyama said Monday he had emerged from a curtailed season fitter and stronger and can’t wait to get back on the court when the San Antonio Spurs begin their National Basketball Association (NBA) campaign.

The 7-foot-3 Frenchman, who was rookie of the year in the 2023-2024 season, was forced to shut down his season in February when deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder was discovered.

Wembanyama, 21, told reporters at the Spurs’ media day he had used the time off to increase his strength through “brutal” training.

“I can assure you nobody has trained like I did this summer. And this is my best summer so far,” he said.

“I can tell the progress is just incredible. I feel better. I look stronger. And, you know, the scale says I’m heavier. So everything is a green light.”

When he suits up for the Spurs’ first regular season game against Dallas on 22 October, it will be eight months since his last appearance, in the All-Star Game.

“On my body, there’s only so many steps that I’m going to pass this summer. I’m only going to get so much better. I think I’ve maxed out what I can do in one summer,” Wembanyama said.

“And now I need to play basketball and work on my skills as a team, tactically. So, yeah, I want to play. And I miss it.”

Wembanyama averaged 24.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 3.8 blocked shots and 1.1 steals a game over 46 games for the Spurs last season.

Part of Wembanyama’s journey back to full fitness included a 10-day retreat at at Shaolin temple in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou in June.

Wembanyama described that stay as an “incredible experience” that helped boost his training through working on his range of movement and strength.

“The training with the monks and the temple, incredible experience. Very much out of my comfort zone,” Wembanyama said.

“It was my intent from the start, but that’s probably as far a physical activity as I’m used to doing. So it really paid off in terms of training and as a life experience.”

Wembanyama said his decision to visit China had been partially prompted by his blood clot health scare, which has left him with a determination to “do more of this stuff and to not keep myself from doing stuff.”

“This works for every field of life, you know, from being a public person to being a professional athlete,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m still going to do the things I want to do as a human.”