Victor Wembanyama came into the NBA with more hype than any prospect since LeBron James and, much like LeBron did 21 years ago, Wembanyama has more than lived up to the sky-high expectations placed on him.
The Spurs rookie big man is almost assured the Rookie of the Year award, even with Chet Holmgren having a great year in OKC, and he has a strong case for Defensive Player of the Year, with his late season push flipping some prominent opinions of whether he’s deserving of it even with the Spurs struggles — most notably, Draymond Green’s. On a seemingly nightly basis Wembanyama does things we just never see on the basketball court, and he often leaves opponents dumbfounded and/or in awe of what he’s capable of doing.
With unicorn already taken (and at this point, overused) the best way to really describe Wembanyama is “an alien,” as he simply does things no one else can do or ever has done. He’s embraced that moniker, wearing PE’s of Nike sneakers with an alien logo on the back, and the sneaker giant is starting to give Wemby the full promotional treatment. On Monday, they took advantage of the total solar eclipse that passed over Texas and much of the central United States to release a terrific new ad spot for the Spurs young star.
The total eclipse has just begun. 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑 pic.twitter.com/ihGr5mFzai
— Nike Basketball (@nikebasketball) April 8, 2024
Nike has long been among the best at athlete ads, and this is some very good (and opportunistic) work. Wemby crop circles in Texas is good stuff and after years of brands and players forcing monogram logos on us, I’m very excited to have a player with a unique logo that’s not some mashup of his initials. The alien head in a basketball is grade-A work and I hope they keep steering in to the supernatural/otherworldly element with Wembanyama going forward.
