Victor Wembanyama hailed as NBA Rookie of Year in ceremony
SAN ANTONIO -- After teammate-led chants of "Wemby! Wemby!" a smiling Victor Wembanyama entered the theater at the Scobee Planetarium to a rousing ovation from the 50 or so children in attendance.
This wasn't your normal Rookie of the Year award presentation -- fitting for someone who has been dubbed an alien.
Wembanyama walked in and took his seat in the front row of the 100-seat theater with kids from local Boys & Girls Clubs, Big Brother/Big Sister programs and students from a nearby elementary school sitting amongst several of Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs teammates and staffers.
Before he walked in, Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan got the kids riled up and chanting as the Rookie of the Year entered the room.
Wembanyama and company watched a video about his rookie season -- featuring clips from Wembanyama as young as seven years old -- before Spurs general manager Brian Wright presented him with his trophy.
"This is one of the representations of our progress throughout the year and all the efforts we made on the court," Wembanyama said. "I think receiving this trophy here with fans, with kids and everyone being happy to be here, it's also a good feeling for me and a good representation of the love that we felt throughout the year. To me, this is the right way to receive [the trophy]."
On Monday, Wembanyama was named the unanimous winner of the Rookie of the Year award, becoming the sixth player to do so in the last 40 seasons and the first since Karl-Anthony Towns in 2016 with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Despite that, Wembanyama said he never felt that the race was over because he was focused on other things.
"I had other things to think about," Wembanyama said. "I had a responsibility towards my team and the challenge of staying dominant and helpful for the team and also staying healthy. I had many things on my mind the whole season. It was no bigger than that."
Wembanyama said he got goosebumps watching a video the Spurs prepared for him that featured clips of him playing basketball as young as 7 years old.
But after that played, Wembanyama accepted his trophy from Wright and then had his own video in which he thanked those who came before him with the Spurs, coach Gregg Popovich, his teammates, coaches, staff members, his family and eventually the fans, finishing the video with: "The future is going to be fun."
"I'm realistic, I know there's going to be videos of myself on the internet and they're going to talk about winning the award, but there's so much more to this," Wembanyama said. "To me, it's so much more to recognize each other's greatness and value.
"I mean, this is not enough. This is barely something. I want to keep the momentum going and let everybody know they are a part of the family and a part of the story. I believe in the fans, my teammates, the staff. I believe in them as much as I think they believe in me."
Next up for Wembanyama are the Summer Olympics in Paris, where he'll get to represent his home country of France on the international stage.
"This summer is special because it's pretty busy," Wembanyama said. "But yeah, I'm still going to have time to, I've had time to relax already in France a little bit with my family, and now I'm going to have time to practice and I'm going to have just a little bit of time after the Olympics, hopefully to work out before the season."
