SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For all he had already accomplished in life, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama realized he truly had not done much.
Lying in a hospital bed awaiting surgery that could potentially save his life, much less an NBA career, Wembanyama waited for relief from a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.
It led the 21-year-old from France to take a two-week excursion to China to train his mind and body this summer. It spurred him to visit the NASA Space Center and broaden his imagination and his understanding of space exploration.
“I mean, life isn’t forever and there are some experiences we’re going to miss on, it is inevitable, but I’m going to miss on the least that I can,” Wembanyama said Monday. “I want to experience the most and this is something that I wanted to do and just because I’m in the NBA, I’m not going to keep myself from doing it. I want to experience those things.”
The health scare has led to a healthier, happier and even taller Wembanyama.
After being listed as 7-foot-3 in his first two seasons, Wembanyama is officially 7-4 and 240 pounds after another summer spent bulking up.
Wembanyama’s health, along with the return of De’Aaron Fox and the additions of Luke Kornet and No. 2 pick Dylan Harper, have fueled hopes the Spurs will end a six-year playoff drought.
“You see how hard he works and how motivated he is,” Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan said. “I think he’s super excited to see, and I think he’s ready. I think you guys are going to see a lot that’s going to shock you, and I think everyone’s excited and can’t wait to see him on the actual NBA court.”
Coming off winning Rookie of the Year in 2024, Wembanyama was literally towering over the world in the opening months of his second season in the NBA. In January he played in Paris as an NBA player for the first time, debuted in the All-Star Game in February, was on course to win Defensive Player of the Year for a time and his popularity was growing faster than he did as a youth.
All of it halted when Wembanyama was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder shortly after the All-Star break, ending his season on Feb. 20.
“So, I don’t know where you heard it is thoracic on the thrombosis, but it was definitely a DVT,” Wembanyama said, clarifying speculation.
More concerning than not playing basketball, the blood clot in his right shoulder potentially could have traveled to his lungs and led to a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
That led to Wembanyama to many doctor’s appointments and an urgent surgery.
“Yeah, of course, I mean it is life-changing,” Wembanyama said. “I mean, spending so much time in hospitals and around doctors and hearing more bad news than I wish I heard. Of course, as you said, it is traumatic, but in the long run I think it’s going to be very beneficial, because even though I don’t wish it on nobody, it makes you understand lessons that nothing else could have made you understand.”
Not that Wembanyama was living an unrestrained life before his health scare. Since joining the league as an 18-year-old, Wembanyama goes to bed at 9 p.m., spends his days getting lost in the writings of science fiction and fantasy author Brandon Sanderson and constructing Lego models.
But Wembanyama wanted more from his life.
“It’s a pretty unique rabbit hole you can get down for someone of his age,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “He is so intentional on the variety of ways that he tries to improve as a player and a person. It’s really something I’ve never witnessed or experienced in my time. It’s quite curious. It’s quite constantly trying to push himself out his comfort zone and learn new things.”
So, Wembanyama followed through on his desire to explore the NASA Space Center in Houston and to visit the Shaolin Temple in China and study Buddhism, meditation and physical training with its monks.
“Training with the monks was an incredible experience,” Wembanyama said. “Very much out of my comfort zone. It was my intent from the start, but that’s probably as far a physical activity as I’m used to doing. So it really paid off in terms of training and as a life experience as a curious person. It’s just great.”
It led to Wembanyama to deliver his first “real kicks” during karate training and to increase his range of motion.
“This is my best summer so far,” Wembanyama said. “I can tell the progress is just incredible. I feel better, I look stronger and the scale says I’m heavier. So everything is a green light.”
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