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VIDEOS: Wembanyama Seen Playing Pickup Soccer in Another Summer Side Quest

At a park in Texas, the towering man of the people showed off his touch, fell down, got up, scored a goal, and got lovingly swarmed by fans as he came off the field.
Tom Petrini|
Oct 28, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) performs a soccer kick before warming up for a game the Houston Rockets at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
Oct 28, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) performs a soccer kick before warming up for a game the Houston Rockets at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

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San Antonio Spurs

SAN ANTONIO -- As Victor Wembanyama continues another summer of side quests, he popped up at a Texas park to play a little pickup soccer.

Multiple videos posted Friday night showed the 7-foot-4 basketball superstar messing about on the pitch, the Frenchman sporting a Paris Saint-Germain jersey with his name across the back. The towering man of the people showed off his touch, fell down, got up, scored a goal, and got lovingly swarmed by fans as he came off the field.

In many of the clips circulating Wembanyama played balls into the box and looked to involve his teammates, but he did blast one shot into the bottom corner before imitating a goal celebration from his national team's star, Kylian Mbappé.

Wemby was going for goal again on a one-timer, and when he tried to smash the pass into the back of the net he reached for it awkwardly with his right leg and fell to his left knee. While you never want to see your star player fall, especially messing around in the offseason, he didn't give anyone time to be worried about it. The ever-flexible Wembanyama popped up from the turf with a laugh and kept on chugging.

This game happened in the Houston area, where Wembanyama has participated in a few high-profile workouts in recent days. First we saw photos from a run at De'Aaron Fox's home in Katy with Harrison Barnes and new Spur Tobias Harris. It appears that he also went to his mentor Hakeem Olajuwon's place to work with him and Bucks center Kel'el Ware.

Wembanyama is a big soccer fan who popped out at the World Cup this summer, and France could have used him in net. He regularly juggles the basketball with his feet and knees when he's getting loose for a basketball game, and though he's probably be an unbeatable keeper he seems to like playing in the field a bit more.

This isn't the first time we've seen him pop into a random pickup soccer game, as videos from a similar scene went viral last summer as well.

It's always entertaining to watch someone with Wembanyama's frame play any sport other than basketball. At Fanatics Fest in New York he dribbled a baseball before throwing a few pitches that were way better than the ceremonial first pitch he threw at Yankee Stadium before his draft.

His attempt at hockey wasn't as great, but when he got on the court he swished all of his shots.

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Tom Petrini
TOM PETRINI

Tom Petrini has covered Spurs basketball for the last decade, first for Project Spurs and then for KENS 5 in San Antonio. After leaving the newsroom he co-founded the Silver and Black Coffee Hour, a weekly podcast where he catches up on Spurs news with friends Aaron Blackerby and Zach Montana. Tom lives in Austin with his partner Jess and their dogs Dottie and Guppy. His other interests include motorsports and making a nice marinara sauce.

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