The NBA can wait! Expected top pick Victor Wembanyama propels his club team into the French semi-finals as he refuses to sit down and keep his 2m 4 body for next month’s draft
- Wembanyama has refused to sit for the draft amid his team’s playoff push
- The 19-year-old had 19 points and nine boards in a series-clinching victory Thursday
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Victor Wembanyama’s refusal to stay ahead of next month’s NBA Draft helped push the club’s scheduled team from the first overall pick to the LNB Pro A semifinals in France.
The 19-year-old recorded 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks as the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans defeated 92 Cholet 81-69 in Game 3 of their first round. They now face Wembanyama’s former team, ASVEL, in a best-of-five series.
That Wembanyama played well in a postseason-game is no surprise. The acclaimed 7-foot-4 prospect averaged 21.6 points per game in the French league this season, while scoring 56 percent of his field goal attempts.
What’s surprising is that Wembanyama is playing at all, rather than preserving his health for next month’s NBA Draft, when he’s sure to be picked first overall by the San Antonio Spurs.
Former college players preparing for the NBA have finished playing meaningful basketball, and are instead focused on private practices ahead of the June draft combine.
Wembanyama reacts during Boulogne-Levallois’ victory over Cholet in the French play-offs
Victor Wembanyama (R), the French power forward of Metropolitan 92, talks to a player of Cholet
Bilal Coulibaly, the Frenchman from Metropolitan 92, is only 18, but is also likely to be eliminated in the first round
And Wembanyama isn’t the only Metropolitans 92 player on his way to the NBA.
Bilal Coulibaly, a 6-foot-6 winger with a 7-foot-1 wingspan has grown into a contributing role and is expected to be taken in the first round next month.
“He is by far the best full-back of his generation in Europe and one of the best in this year’s class,” he wrote. Stefanos Makris of NBADraft.Net of Coulibaly. Blessed with a great body and a great sense of the game, the French prospect has all the necessary tools to become an elite 3-and-D player, but it’s the potential that has shown itself at a lower level as secondary maker/shot maker wing that intrigues.
“That being said, for all the promise he’s shown, Coulibaly is still a questionable Spot Up shooter for now, who has a long way to go as a secondary ball handler and maker.”