More than 200 scouts and team agents traveled to Las Vegas to see the future of basketball with their own eyes. G League Ignite, an NBA development team based in Nevada, will host Metropolitan, a team from France.

All eyes were on Victor Vebanyama. The Frenchman, who sees the world from a height of 220 centimeters, did not disappoint those who came to the American city to see him.

Despite losing his team 122–115, Webanyama put in an impressive 37 points, even hitting 7 3-pointers in 11 attempts. He also has 4 rebounds, 5 blocked shots, 1 interception and only one error in the match in 33 minutes of participation. It was the young Frenchman’s first fight in the US.

Victor Wembanyama is one of a kind hooper!

🦄 37pts, 4pd, 5ch, 7 3rm pic.twitter.com/jc3Jz6SLio

— NBA (@NBA) October 5, 2022

Basketball experts are talking about a player who will be the first pick in the 2023 draft. Many call him the new LeBron James. The fact that he handles the ball very well despite his height, as well as his good shooting from medium to long range, makes everyone talk about a “phenomenal” player.

Webanyama was born in January 2004 in a suburb 15 miles from Paris. The young Frenchman has a sporting background, as his father was a high-altitude athlete, and his mother and sister play basketball.

His sister, by the way, won a gold medal as part of the French team at the EuroBasket among boys under 16 years old. As a child, the 18-year-old athlete played football as a goalkeeper, and then devoted himself to basketball, where he began playing for the Versailles team, and then moved to the Nanterre academy.

At the age of 14, Vebanyama helped the Nanterre under-18 team to second place in the league. He was three years younger than his teammates and rivals.

“I saw a 14-year-old pass by and I said, ‘I have to see this kid compete. His movements and his conduct prompted me to call Tony Parker and tell him, “We have to find Victor Webanyam.” I’ve been talking about this player for four years now. Now everyone is listening to me,” Nikola Batum admitted to andscape.

The young Frenchman began to attract the attention of big teams. He made his first big splash in the summer of 2021 at the Under-19 World Championships.

His performances took France to the final. The US won 83-81 to win the gold medal. However, the speeches of Victor Vebanyama did not go unnoticed.

The young Frenchman scored 22 points and 8 blocked shots in the final and got into the first team of the World Cup. Team USA leader and Tournament MVP Chet Holmgren scored 10 points and 5 assists in that game. The American center was selected second overall in this year’s draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Despite the sirens of Barcelona, ​​he decided to continue his career in France and Villeurbanne, a team owned by Tony Parker, signing a three-year contract in the summer of 2021. Euroleague managed to stand out from its first performances.

In the French League, he averaged 9.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 16 games played. He received the Best Young Player award for the second year in a row, but an injury prevented him from making the playoffs and Villebant ultimately won the title.

In the Euroleague, he played in 13 games, averaging 6.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. In the game against Zalgiris, he scored 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 blocks and two steals, which is his best result in the main interclub basketball tournament in Europe.

“First of all, he listens and wants to improve,” Willerbanne coach T. J. Parker said after that game. “He’s having a hard time with this body. He needs to gain strength, and he works hard for this every day. However, I trust him at the end of games, even though he is only 18 years old,” the French coach concluded.

LeBron James himself spoke admiringly of the 18-year-old French basketball player. After his impressive performance in the Met’s G-League Ignite friendly, the NBA superstar called the young player an “alien.”

“I will say what the whole world believes in. “In recent years, everyone has been using the term unicorn for some players a lot, but he probably looks more like an alien,” said the Los Angeles Lakers player.

“No one has ever seen anything like it before. A player of such height to move so gracefully across the field. It’s 2.21 meters, 2.24 meters, whatever. His ability to put the ball on the floor, hit three steps back, make posts, block is just incredible. He is definitely an incredible talent and I hope he stays healthy because that’s the most important thing. I saw that he often smiled. He is a great player,” added the four-time NBA champion.

“The last few years everyone has been a unicorn, but he looks more like an alien. No one has ever seen anyone as tall, yet as fluid and graceful on the floor as he is… He is undoubtedly the talent of a generation.”

LeBron talks about Victor Wembanyam.pic.twitter.com/XaWWRX76I3

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 6, 2022