Victor Wembanyama has only been in the NBA for a year, but it seems like he has even made his harshest critics rethink their views. The French center has seemingly put up mind-blowing numbers in almost every game, setting records and proving in every way that he will be one of the league’s biggest stars in the not-so-distant future. While everyone has had a chance to know Wembanyama the basketball player by now, not everyone is as familiar with Wembanyama the businessman. Yet, there is much to be said on that front as well. Victor came to the United States to play in the NBA and immediately found himself in the spotlight upon his arrival. He was selected with the first overall pick in the draft and joined the San Antonio Spurs as the hottest and most promising rookie since LeBron James.
Wembanyama reportedly earned around $12 million on his first-year deal—a huge sum for a rookie, surpassing what many soccer stars earn. But for the promising Frenchman, this is just the beginning. There’s much more to come. Off the court, Wembanyama has proven to be a remarkably mature and articulate young man, handling intense media scrutiny with poise and humility. He seems genuinely excited about the opportunity to showcase his immense talents on the NBA’s global stage. Wembanyama has already begun to leverage his platform to raise awareness for causes close to his heart, such as education and youth development initiatives in his native France.
Those who know Victor Wembanyama say that his priority today is not so much money as sporting results and adapting to the incredibly demanding NBA schedule. Notably, even when he was still playing for Metropolitans 92 and ASVEL, it was not only NBA scouts who had their eyes on him, but also local television. Canal+ quickly recognized the Frenchman's incredible talent and decided to make a documentary about him. But it was easier said than done. When the television crew began negotiations with the player, his family and his coaches, they ran into unexpected difficulties. The family initially opposed the filming, believing that the young man did not need additional publicity. But the producers finally managed to convince the relatives. Now, Victor is not looking to multiply his personal sponsors, but rather to work judiciously with those who believed in him from the beginning.
Currently, the Frenchman has agreements with companies such as Barcode (a manufacturer of plant-based energy drinks), Fanatics (a licensed producer of sportswear), 2K Games (a distributor and publisher of interactive games and entertainment software), as well as the world-renowned brands Nike and Louis Vuitton. According to publicly available information, the agreement with Barcode brings the Frenchman $500 per year; thanks to Fanatics, Wembanyama's bank account is supplemented by $000 million per year, and the collaboration with 5K Games adds another $2 million per year. Information about the contract with Louis Vuitton is limited, but the agreement with Nike deserves special attention. Various media outlets reported that the agreement was signed for more than $3 million, and that the American company is expected to pay special attention to the Frenchman in the near future: Victor is expected to play an important role in Nike's projects.
It’s almost unbelievable, but Wembanyama has achieved all of this at an incredibly young age. The player is only 20 years old now. It’s hard to imagine what he had to go through to avoid being broken and to withstand all the hype that surrounds him everywhere he goes. But Wembanyama has come through. Excellent numbers (21,5 points, 4,5 rebounds and 2,0 assists) in the NBA preseason before his league debut, and 21,4 points, 10,6 rebounds and 3,9 assists in the regular season, while the attention and coverage of the best players in the world only intensified with each game. Adrian Wojnarowski called Wembanyama the most anticipated and perhaps the greatest prospect in NBA draft history. It’s safe to say that the words of top insiders are making more and more sense every day. The young center's current contract with the Spurs runs through the end of the 2026-2027 season and will pay him $55 million.
If the Frenchman continues at this pace, those numbers will soon increase exponentially. Not long ago, one of the leading American financial publications, Bloomberg, published an article on Wembanyama, noting that he could (if everything goes his way) become the first NBA player to earn $1 billion from club contracts alone at the age of 33. But now, Victor is focused on basketball, thinking about the new NBA season and the Summer Olympics in his native Paris. The rest will follow. The story highlights Wembanyama's incredible achievements from a young age, the challenges he had to overcome, and his humble, basketball-focused approach despite the immense hype and potential for huge earnings. The rewrite aims to convey the human side of his remarkable journey so far.
