News
Article
ANGT Patras welcomes another Wembanyama on Friday

ANGT Patras welcomes another Wembanyama on Friday

Article

9 February 20234 Mins read

ANGT Patras welcomes another Wembanyama on Friday

15-year-old Oscar Wembanyama says: 'I want to write my own story'

You can follow the ANGT Patras tournament live starting on Friday at https://www.youtube.com/@euroleague

Oscar Wembanyama has a name everyone knows. But the LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne talent doesn't just want to be known as the younger brother of Victor Wembanyama. Instead, the 15-year-old looks forward to writing his own story – starting at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Patras, which opens on Friday, February 10.

Wembanyama has already become an established name in the world of basketball. Of course, 19-year-old Victor Wembanyama debuted in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague last season with ASVEL and will most likely be the number one pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. In addition to Victor, 21-year-old Eve Wembanyama has already made a name for herself in women's game, helping France win the FIBA U16 Women's European Championship 2017 and FIBA U20 Women's European Championship 2021. And mother Elodie de Fautereau used to play professionally and now is a coach.

Still, Oscar didn't take to basketball growing up. His sport of choice for five years was handball.

"In my city, all my friends did it. That's what made me appreciate the sport. I think I was considered a prospect, you could say," Oscar, whose father Felix Wembanyama is former track and field athlete, said this week. "I played very little basketball, just with my mother because she organized training courses for children. I got into it in a club last year. I had been considering doing it for a year."

In part, basketball actually has the Covid-19 pandemic to thank for Oscar switching from handball:

"There was a period when I was not doing anything because of Covid, and that emptiness pushed me to do something new, so I turned to basketball."

Wembanyama started watching more basketball during that period confinement. And the players he most watches are Kevin Durant, Sasha Vezenkov, Dirk Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuwon and his favorite player, former flashy point guard Jason Williams.

"He is the one who made me want to play basketball," he admitted.

Oscar joined Nanterre last season and ended up helping the club where his brother used to play win the French U15 title, beating ASVEL 80-78 in the final.

"My sister and my brother were both French champions, and that was my goal from the start of the season, even though I was just starting basketball," he says. "It was incredible, I felt proud of course, and it was the accomplishment of my whole season. Especially for my first year."

The off-season saw him move from Nanterre to ASVEL, where Victor played last season.

"I made the decision because I think ASVEL allows me to develop more individually, and since I am just starting basketball, I think that is the most important thing for me," said Wembanyama, who won't turn 16 until March 8.

Besides the aforementioned stars, Wembanyama also learns from his siblings.

"There is too little talk about my sister," he says. "I watch all of her games, and there are things that inspire me about her, especially the intensity that she puts on the floor. She is incredible."

And about his older brother, Oscar said: "My big brother taught me a lot of things, and he fulfilled his role as a big brother very well for me. He knows how to manage all the attention he has on him very well."

And now some of that attention is starting to land on Oscar.

"My brother has been popular for a while, so it's nothing new for me and I don't particularly feel in his shadow. My goal is not to do exactly like him but to write my own story, as beautiful as possible," he said.

As for the pressure that comes with the Wembanyama surname, Oscar says: "The only pressure I receive is from others who give it to me, from constantly being compared to (Victor), and all the questions I am asked about him. People sometimes see me only as Victor's brother, and that's not the case."

Oscar Wembanyama is already a French U15 champion and this weekend in Greece he has a chance to write the next chapter of his story at the ANGT Patras.