Victor Wembanyama’s fantastic year continues in the NBA offseason. The Spurs big man became the youngest captain of France’s national team in 23 years, the French Basketball Federation announced
.While the title might not seem like a big deal, especially in a non-Olympic year, it’s definitely important for the superstar center. Wembanyama recently said in an interview with L’Equipethat wearing France’s jersey means more to him than wearing any other because of the intensity involved with it and the limited
times he gets to do it:
“It means more because you wear it for much shorter periods of time,” Wembanyama said, as translated by BasketNews. “The intensity of an Olympic Games, for example, is something that happens over a matter of weeks, so everything is decided in the moment.”
“There are very few games in an international career. Every one of them really matters.”
Wemby is committed to the national team, so being named captain at age 22, just one year older than Tony Parker was when he held the title in 2003, is a big honor for him. As the French team prepares for the older generation to pass the torch to the new stars, Wemby was an obvious candidate to pick up the mantle not only because of his talent, but, as Team France’s coach Frédéric Fauthoux said, because of his leadership.
The start of the Wemby era as national team captain wasn’t the one he surely wanted, as France lost to Nikola Jokic’s Serbia in a friendly on Thursday. Wembanyama finished with 10 points on eight shots to go with five rebounds, two assists and two blocks, but also had six turnovers and was outplayed by The Joker, who finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, helping Serbia dominate early and hold off a late comeback attempt by France. The two teams will meet again on Sunday, August 23, and this time France will host.
The friendlies are important for getting into rhythm, but the two games that matter will be played on August 27 against Slovenia in Paris and on August 30 against Sweden in Stockholm. France has a 5-1 record, leading Group L in the second round of qualifiers after dropping only one game to Finland.
There are two more qualifying windows left after this one, but Wemby will likely miss those, since they will take place during the NBA’s regular season. Still, the top three teams from the four groups will make it to the World Cup, so if Les Bleus win both their games in August, they will be on pace to easily make it to Qatar 2027, where Wemby will try to lead his team to gold after getting silver in the past Olympics.
