Wembanyama how tall is he really? The answer of the Spurs, and the doubts of the NBA-Corriere.it

But how tall is Victor Wembanyama really? On the French champion, first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and selected by the San Antonio Spurs, a dispute is brewing in the name of centimeters and the question: grew up a little, or not? The answer: it depends on how you assess the situation.

A premise must be made. From the 2019-2020 season, the NBA has imposed a new measurement methodology: players must not have shoes. This fact led to many shortening, but strangely the opposite also happened and someone lengthened: the most striking example is that of Kevin Durant, now star of the Phoenix Suns, who went from 2.05 to 2.08 (abundant).

The NBA, usually a month before the Draft (this year held on June 22), organizes the official measurement of the various candidates. The session took place in May in Chicago, but Mister W was unable to be present because he is busy in the French playoffs with the Metropolitans 92, the team he is leaving following the call from San Antonio. Cos the official measurement was made by the Spurswho declared the player to be 7 feet 35 inches, equal to 2 meters and 24 centimeters.

This height is at least one and a half centimeters higher than the one declared last October in Las Vegas, when the Frenchman participated with the Metropolitans 92 in a tournament. On that occasion, given that the starting point had been his 219 centimeters when he was 19 years old, it was established that it was over 2.22. But given the boy’s young age, he’s still growing up. In any case, by now everyone has their say and the fork regarding Wembanyama ranges from 219 cm – a figure that is in any case exceeded – even to 228. But even if in the latter case we are exaggerating, the explanation is not lacking: In photos alongside other 7-foot-plus towers, the one already dubbed the NBA’s new unicorn appears to be the tallest of them all.

Not being able to measure it, the NBA had indicated in its guide the measurement of 7 feet and 4 inches, equal to 225 centimeters. In this case he would have been a tie with Boban Marjanovic, the Serbian now under the Houston Rockets. After the official Spurs fix, Wembanyama slips to second place, subtracting him from Kristaps Porzingis (222), the Latvian who has just ended up with the Boston Celtics in the exchange that brought Danilo Gallinari to Washington (provisionally, because it seems that the prospect of signing for the reigning runners-up Miami Heat is opening up for Gallo). In any case, Victor was the tallest among the candidates for the Draft and would have been taller even if he had participated in the league’s measurement of Chicago: Canadian Zach Edey, who then gave up being selected preferring to stay at Purdue University, measures 2 and 23.

Well, after all this fuss, the time to wear the San Antonio jersey for the first time is approaching for the man who seems to impersonate the basketball of the future: the debut with the Spurs and in the NBA set for July 7 in the Summer League in Las Vegas. The Texans will play against the Charlotte Hornets and Victor could face Brandon Miller, the one who followed him in the Draft as number 2 overall.