Two of the three teams with the best odds to get Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery came from the state of Texas. Both the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets (along with the Detroit Pistons) had a 14 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick and the right to take the Frenchman considered one of the greatest prospects to ever enter the league.
ESPN went to break right before the top-4 teams were announced, and with the Pistons falling to No. 5, we learned Wembanyama would go to one of four franchises: The Charlotte Hornets, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Rockets, or the Spurs. Ultimately, San Antonio got the No. 1 pick, but immediately after the break, we learned that Wembanyama would go somewhere other than Houston, which ended up picking fourth.
A video has been going around the internet on Wednesday morning of Wembanyama learning he would not end up as a member of the Rockets. It comes by way of NBA Extra, a show on the French network beIN Sports, and shows Wembanyama celebrating that he’s not going to Houston.
POV : quand tu sais que tu n’iras pas aux Rockets. pic.twitter.com/0vgJthKFWY
— Oklahoma City Thunder France (@OKCThunderFR) May 17, 2023
The clip caught the eye of Jabari Smith Jr., who made a note of how Wembanyama reacted to this.
https://twitter.com/jabarismithjr/status/1658867218715750401
It is worth mentioning that this doesn’t necessarily mean Wembanyama has anything against the Rockets — he’s close with Spurs great Tony Parker and said in the aftermath of the Draft Lottery that he believed all of France wanted him to end up in San Antonio, due to the ties that team has with a number of great French hoopers. Regardless, it seems like he had a preference among the Texas teams at the top of the Draft, and he ended up getting his way.
