Victor Wembanyama Wanted to Play With Mavs' Luka Doncic?
DALLAS — On Tuesday, the NBA Draft Lottery was hosted in Chicago and the results confirmed that the San Antonio Spurs will select at 1st overall during next month's draft. Gaining the selection affords them the necessary positioning to select generational prospect Victor Wembanyama.
Even in Wembanyama's case, he nearly ended up with the Washington Wizards instead of the Spurs. The Wizards entered with a 6.7 percent chance of landing the 1st pick, but ended up owning six of the final 11 ping pong balls in play — affording them a 55 percent chance
On a recent episode of "The Hoop Collective" podcast, ESPN's Brian Windhorst — who was at Wembanyama's draft party in France — shared some insight into the live reactions from the French phenom as the lottery results were revealed.
As the team picking at 10th overall in the order was revealed to be the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama "definitely reacted" to them no longer being in the mix to land the 1st pick. There was just a 3.0 percent chance of the outcome, which would have created the fifth least probable outcome in lottery history.
"Would Dallas move up? Victor definitely reacted when Dallas came up because obviously he knew that playing with Luka Doncic would be fascinating," Windhorst said. "That was a discussion that I had with his agents."
Imagine how challenging it would be to have such a dynamic threat like Wembanyama as a two-man game partner with the elite scoring and playmaking of Doncic? It's easy to see why Wembanyama would have been excited for the outcome.
It was always a longshot for the Mavs to gain the top pick in this year's NBA Draft, with the odds being just a 3.0 percent chance. There was a 65.2 percent chance for Dallas to be selecting at 10th overall, which ultimately came to fruition.
Wembanyama is more than happy with the outcome of landing with the Spurs. He made clear that he's looking forward to learning about San Antonio and the people involved with the organization.
"My heart's beating [fast]," Wembanyama said right after he learned of his destination. "I've got everyone I know, everyone I love around me. It's a really special moment I'm going to remember the rest of my life."
As the Mavs aim to build a contending team around Doncic, Wembanyama will be motivated to immediately bring a championship to San Antonio.
“I'm trying to win a ring ASAP," Wembanyama said. "So get ready."
Wembanyama becomes the latest of many intriguing talents to land in the Southwest Division in recent years, along with Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, and Jalen Green to name a few.
Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).
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