Victor Wembanyama introduced by San Antonio Spurs in rookie press conference

Those are all of your new co-workers. Thank you to our staff for coming out today. I'll be really brief. My mom taught me a long time ago to read the room and the room is here to see this young man. But I did want to say welcome to the Wiminyama family, to Buna, to Issa, friends, coaches, all of you in attendance. Hopefully you all have felt the love dating back to draft lottery night, to arriving yesterday, and then here today. To Victor, I wanted to say to you directly, we're excited to grow with you, support you, challenge you, especially Coach Pop. There'll be a lot of challenging days. On your journey through life and basketball, your talent is obvious, but as we got to know you, the maturity, the approach, the character really showed us how special of a young man you are. And as an organization, we're extremely excited to welcome you to the city of San Antonio and to the Spurs family. Thanks man. And with that, I'll pass it over to Jordan for questions. We'll take questions if anyone has any. We'll start with Mike Finger, San Antonio Express News right here. Hey Victor, you mentioned the day before the draft in New York about wanting to be the best at all parts of the job of basketball player. And I'm sure you've seen some of the murals around town, the mariachi songs written about you. Do you feel like part of that job is to immerse yourself in this community and how do you feel like you're going to tackle that part of the job? You're right. You're right. I want to do the best I can in every aspect of the job. And you know, as far as I've seen, the fans have been the best at their job. So yeah, I can only hope to be at their level. And yeah, you know, it's just, you know, there was a photo shoot before and I got to answer the question the best I can. I got to be, yeah, I got to do my best. Jeff McDonald right here. Hey Victor, what have the last, since you left Brooklyn, what has the last 24 hours been like for you? Has it been sort of a whirlwind type deal? You know, high in emotions, but also a lot, a lot, a lot of stuff to do, you know, after the draft, after it happened, I had like two hours of media and then I got just to celebrate with my family. So the emotion had time to settle down a little bit, but it was a really tiring, the last 72 hours were really, really tiring. And yeah, but it's, you know, I'm really enjoying the moment. Everyone is doing a perfect job around me. You know, everyone is doing their best, so I feel good. And so I have the least to do also, you know, my family and the people around me do a lot for me and yeah, everywhere I've been, I've been welcomed warmly. So it's just, it's really comfortable. I'm really, I'm really happy to be in that position. What have you been able to do since you've got to San Antonio in those hours and days? I haven't been able to do much, you know, I've had time to eat some tacos, but that's pretty much it, you know, just unpack the, unpack the luggages and yeah, meet all the staff, meet the fans. This is the first time I come to this arena, you know, I haven't had the time to visit at all. And lastly, what did you think about just all the fans at the airport yesterday when you landed? This is, I wasn't expecting so much, so much, so much from just my arrival, you know, it's, it's really, it was really, really fun moment. And this is, this is what it's about, you know, this makes me happy. Go to Don Harris right here. Hey Victor, just really fascinated by the fact that we've never seen anybody in your height handle the ball the way you do. And I wanted to get more reflection from you on the development of that. I heard there were the Pete Marriage videos and, and your mom was your, your first coach in teaching you about ball handling. Two, when did that start? And was mom as tough as Coach Pop? Sorry, can you, I didn't hear you. Was mom as tough as Coach Pop? No. You know, I haven't, I haven't experienced playing under Coach Pop yet, but I know for sure my mom wasn't as hard as him because she's only, she was only my coach when I was probably like five years old. So if she had been as tough as Coach Pop, I probably would have quit. But yeah, you know, it's, she, she always, she always knew her role and, and basketball for her and for my family was always secondary. You know, the first thing was always making me grow as a person and being a good human being before being a good basketball player. But yeah, but the Pete Marriage videos, you know, I had one of my coach when I was 12, 13 years old. He, he was a big fan. Like he knows everything about basketball and he was the one watching the videos and then giving his drills to do. And I just learned that, that coach, he's like a basketball fanatic. And I just learned he was at the draft. He was in Brooklyn and he didn't even tell me he was there. He was just watching me like a, like a shadow and he didn't even tell me. This is how big a fan he is. Secondly, reflect on, or tell us a little about your dinner with David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili last night. Yeah, probably one of the best, you know, in probably a couple hours I learned more than, I learned more about the NBA than in my whole life before, you know, and it's such, such a, such comforting to see that these people who are so important to the city of San Antonio and to the franchise are such kind people and generous because they genuinely wanted to, to share with me their experience. And, you know, yeah, I feel like they, they've already started to take great care of me and it's just so comforting to, to be in that position. It's so comfortable, you know, and it's also, I think it's also the position Tim Duncan was in when he came in because he told me he had to, he just had to look up to, to David Robinson to, and Sean Elliott to, yeah, to, and follow their path. And he knew he was in good hands. We'll go right here to Tom Warsborn, Express News. Victor, what were your thoughts on Spurs drafting Sidi and what, what do you think of his game? Sorry. Sidi, what, what was your thoughts about Spurs drafting him and what are your, what are your thoughts about his game? You know, Sidi, I've known him for a really long time, almost, almost 10 years now. And he's always been like of the, amongst the top players of our age, like a really, really major playing on the court, you know, and yeah, he was, it was really hard to play against him back in the days. I haven't played against him in a long time actually. Oh yeah, I mean, except at the G League and yeah, he's really developed into, I mean, we, we would, we were playing against each other at 10 years old and now we're together in, in, in the NBA, we're going to be NBA players. So it really shows that We'll come over here to Larry. Wimby, welcome to San Antonio. Can you describe to us in your own words, you as a basketball player, we've all seen the highlights out there. Can you tell us in your own words though, who you are as a basketball player and what are the Spurs getting in you as a young man off the court? As a basketball player, you know, I'm trying to be myself. I'm trying to, I'm not trying to, at the same time I'm trying to learn and be as objective as I can, you know, to, to become the best, but I'm also trying to be myself and not let anyone change the way I want to be and change the way I want to play. And I think this is really the way to become the best version of myself I can be as a player. So yeah, but I think I do a little bit of everything, you know, and off the court, there's, I mean, people have been showing me love so far, a lot of love. And I think I can give all this back to the fans, to the community, to the franchise and to the city and even to the state. And yeah, this is, there's a lot I want to do off the court, which is a good thing because I'm probably going to retire before I'm 40 years old. So I need to make something out of my time. Bland English with Tim right here. Victor, I'm curious what the next few days are going to be like for you. I know sometimes Nike guys get called up there to, to go through that and summer league practice starts in a few days, summer league games start in a couple of weeks. How hectic is your calendar the next, next few days? You know, I got a, I got a, I got a lot to do, but it's, it's all right. It's okay. It's all going to fit in the, in the schedule. I got, I got houses to visit to, to, to, to get comfortably installed in the city. I got to go, as you said, to, to the Nike headquarters in Portland. Yeah, I got, I got a, I got a couple, couple of other things to do around the States. And, but most importantly, you know, lately I've had so much stuff to do off the court, like with the, with the media, for example, that, that I got a, I got a, I got to go back to being really focused on, on practicing, on lifting, you know, because this isn't what I've done most in the past couple of days. And, you know, it feels, it feels really weird. We'll do some French with Jan right here in the front. Go right here in the white. And so I could go see if I needed to. And they'll be there to help me. So, no, frankly, there's no, there's no power about that. If we look ahead to next season, how do you think being in the NBA will change your game and your body as well? Is it going to change things for you? Yeah, of course, of course. First of all, a very important factor is how much the players are taken seriously here compared to other places in the world. And so we take such good care of the players that everything is done for progress and development. And so, yeah, my game, of course, is going to change. It's not the same register in which I would be expected on the NBA court and in which there will be the space to develop, etc. But the NBA game, that's what suits me best, personally. And one last question. You talked about the legends who are still in the city. Is that something you can look forward to for the rest of your career here? Maybe stay longer? Did the first few hours here make you want to live that, maybe? Of course. The first few hours here made me want to live in this city for a long time. And loyalty is something that's important to me. So I don't know what the future will be like. But inevitably, my desire would be to stay in the same franchise for a long time. Right here in the gray. Victor, Wessim Korné for France 24. Clearly, there are a lot of expectations for your arrival here in San Antonio. Have you been able to think of personal goals that you have set? I know it's sometimes difficult to separate the two. Personal goals for you as a player. First of all, a goal in general will always be to leave a mark on the minds. By the performances and by the good performance of things. But I'm really looking forward to playing my first games. To have a lot of minutes in the NBA before I can set clear goals. Because it's something that will be a day-to-day job. Hello Victor. Guillaume Naudin, RFI. Can you tell us about your arrival here since yesterday? About the welcome you received? Even if you're still looking for a home, do you feel at home already? Yes, of course. I feel at home. Since I arrived, I've only seen people who were grateful for my arrival in this city. It's easy to acclimatize to a climate that is already appreciated. So yes, I feel at home. 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