When ESPN’s NBA crew previewed Tuesday’s NBA Cup Championship between the Knicks and Spurs, they highlighted the obvious carrot: a $500,000 check for each player and coach on the winning side. For max-contract
superstars, it’s pocket change. For two-way players grinding to stay in the league, it’s life-changing money.
Victor Wembanyama doesn’t need the cash. Between his rookie deal and endorsements, the 21-year-old is almost set for life. But make no mistake, this trophy matters to him more than it does to just about anyone else on either roster. Because for all his individual accolades, Wembanyama’s trophy case remains conspicuously bare.
A Scarce Trophy Collection
Rewind to 2017. A 13-year-old Wembanyama teamed up with Bilal Coulibaly on the Hauts-de-Seine U13 select team, a regional all-star squad featuring the best young talent from the Paris suburbs. They won the French National U13 Championship. Victor cried afterward. It was his first major title, and he’s never forgotten that feeling.
It’s also the last trophy he won as a focal point. Sure, there’s technically a 2022 French League title on his résumé. He was on ASVEL’s roster when Tony Parker’s club captured the championship. But Wembanyama appeared in just 16 of 31 games that season, averaging 9.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in limited minutes as a 17-year-old adjusting to pro basketball: respectable numbers for a teenager in one of Europe’s top leagues, but hardly a defining contribution. Ask him about that ring, and he’ll tell you, it doesn’t feel earned.
The following season brought a different kind of pain. After leaving ASVEL for Metropolitans 92, Wembanyama dominated French basketball like no one his age ever had. He swept the awards: MVP, Best Young Player, Best Defender, Best Rebounder, Best Blocker. Five individual trophies in June 2023, right before the NBA Draft.
But the one that mattered most? Monaco took it, beating Wembanyama’s Mets 92 in the championship series. Runner-up.
The Silver Medal Collection
That word “runner-up” has haunted Wembanyama’s career in ways his individual brilliance never could mask. There was the 2019 U16 European Championship, where France fell to Spain in the gold medal game. Wembanyama made the All-Tournament Team. Small consolation.
Then came July 2021 in Latvia, the U19 World Cup final that still stings. France versus Team USA. Wembanyama versus Chet Holmgren, the player he’d be forever linked to in Rookie of the Year conversations. France led deep into the game before Wembanyama fouled out. Final score: USA 83, France 81.
The numbers that night: Wembanyama had 22 points, eight rebounds, and eight blocks. Holmgren finished with 10 points, two rebounds, and zero blocks. Yet Holmgren walked away with tournament MVP honors as the best player on the winning team. For the entire competition, Wembanyama averaged 14 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 5.7 blocks to Holmgren’s 11.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks. Oh, and Wembanyama was two years younger.
I watched every single game live that year, and young Vic was unbelievable. But the injustice of that MVP award wasn’t lost on anyone who watched, and certainly not on Wemby.
But nothing compares to Paris.
The Olympics that should have been
It’s the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris. In Wembanyama’s backyard, on the sport’s biggest global stage, with a nation watching its newest basketball icon chase gold. France made it to the final. They had the lead. They had the moment. And then, Stephen Curry happened, one of those transcendent performances that redefines what’s possible in a basketball game. Team USA survived, and France settled for silver.
Runner-up. Again.
A new opportunity beckons
So when people ask whether the NBA Cup matters to a generational talent who’s already claimed Rookie of the Year, made All-Defensive First Team as a rookie, and led the league in blocks twice before his 22nd birthday, the answer is simple. It matters because Victor Wembanyama remembers every silver medal. He remembers crying at 13 when he won gold. He remembers fouling out in Latvia. He remembers Curry’s daggers in Paris.
The half-million-dollar bonus is nice, but Wembanyama’s legacy won’t be built on checks. It’ll be built on championship hardware, starting with whatever hardware the NBA is willing to hand him. On Tuesday night in Las Vegas, he gets his first real shot at adding to that trophy case since he was a teenager in the Paris suburbs. For Victor Wembanyama, that’s worth more than money. It is also the chance to start something special with his team.
