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Wembanyama and R.C. Buford Open New Court in Wemby's Hometown in France

The Spurs and their jersey sponsor Ledger refurbished a court in Nanterre, and Wemby finished a lob from one local kid and hilariously stuffed a layup attempt.
Tom Petrini|
Victor Wembanyama and RC Buford open new court in Wemby's hometown of Nanterre, France.
Victor Wembanyama and RC Buford open new court in Wemby's hometown of Nanterre, France. | Spurs

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San Antonio Spurs

Victor Wembanyama's busy summer continues, as the Spurs' superstar just helped refurbish a basketball court in his hometown of Nanterre, France.

At the ribbon cutting ceremony for the court, made possibly by the Spurs' charitable efforts and jersey sponsor Ledger, Wembanyama was accompanied by Spurs CEO R.C. Buford. Children from the town donned silver and black and broke in the new baskets with their local legend.

Nanterre is just west of Paris, a suburb of around 100,000 people. The clock tower in the center of the court is a historic one in nearby Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. When the Spurs were in Paris for a pair of games in 2025, they unveiled plans for this court and another.

“Today marks the next chapter, with Nanterre being one of the many important communities in our basketball journey,” Buford said at the time. “The courts we build through Play Paris symbolize our investment in the next generation of players who hope to follow in the footsteps of the global legends before them and elevate the game of basketball in France and beyond.”

It looks like Wemby wasted no time breaking in the new baskets. Video from the event in Nanterre showed Wembanyama finish a lob from a pint-sized teammate.

While one youngster got an unforgettable assist to the rising face of the league, another tried his luck in the paint against the reigning and first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year. It didn't go as well for that kid, who based on the photos really did his best to meet Wembanyama at the mountaintop. Wemby participated in the time-honored tradition of a gigantic NBA player swatting the heck out of a small child at a community engagement event.

That kind of thing happens so much that it was once an arc in the 2K MyPlayer storyline. Your created character has a choice between letting a little dude score or sending that weak stuff into the tenth row. When presented with that choice in real life, Wembanyama's killer instinct took over.

Speaking of 2K, Wembanyama will grace the cover of 2K27 as he continues to hit big milestones early on in his career. He just signed a big contract extension with the Spurs at a discount that will help San Antonio build a winner, and he'll make up some of the money he left on the table with the new long-term deal he signed with Nike, which will reportedly include a signature shoe line.

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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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