Why Victor Wembanyama Has Soft Spot for Liberty Star Marine Johannès
San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama is already one of the biggest names in sports, especially in basketball. And he has a chance to raise his profile even higher during the ongoing NBA playoffs.
Wemby's Spurs squad is facing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, with Game 2 taking place on May 20. Despite being the underdog in this series, San Antonio secured a 112-115 double overtime road victory in Game 1, largely because of Wemby's 41 points and 24 rebounds.
When it comes to hype and stardom for a young player, the most obvious comparison that Wemby has to a WNBA player is Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. And while these two have a ton of mutual respect, Wemby would almost surely be rooting for the New York Liberty if they faced Clark's Fever squad—and that's because of Liberty guard, Marine Johannès.
Marine Johannès and Victor Wembanyama Share Unique Basketball Bond
Johannès has made several stints with the New York Liberty while also playing overseas. She signed a one-year, $277,500 contract (which is the league minimum) this past offseason and has been key for New York while Sabrina Ionescu remains sidelined with an injury, averaging 15.8 points and 4 assists per game.
The biggest reason for this mutual support between Wemby and Johannès is that both are French. In fact, Johannès is arguably the greatest French women's basketball player of all time, and Wemby is well on his way to earning that same prestige on the men's side.
The shared fandom that these two have became clear back in 2023, during Wemby's rookie season with the Spurs and when Johannès was playing with the Liberty. Both wore the other's jersey when entering a game at around the same time, which caught a lot of attention.
Marine Johannès wearing a Victor Wembanyama Spurs jersey and Wemby wearing Marine's Liberty jersey 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RH4MTzJgam
— emma 🗽 (@mjnecklace23) May 19, 2026
However, Johannès and Wemby aren't just friendly from afar. They also bounce basketball knowledge off each other, which Wemby conveyed during an interview with French basketball legend Tony Parker for SKWEEK back in 2023.
Parker asked whether Wemby is more comfortable shooting on one or two feet, and Wemby replied (in translated French) by saying he's more comfortable on one foot. And he believes one foot is, "More natural for everybody, but that nobody does it."
Parker responded by saying that Johannès is the only player who shoots on one foot. Wemby replied by saying, "It's so natural when she does that."
While he didn't say this explicitly, it sounded like Wemby had taken inspiration from Johannès's "natural" one-footed shot and implemented it into his own game.
Johannès will surely be cheering on Wemby's Spurs team on Wednesday night. And perhaps Wemby will be appearing at a Liberty game at some point this season.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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