All-Star Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has been maximizing his summer. The 7’4″ big man, whose 2024/25 sophomore season was cut short early by a blood clot issue, spent two weeks with monks at Shaolin Temple in China.
Reflecting on the stint during an appearance on “The Shop” with Lakers All-Star LeBron James, former seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and streamer Kai Cenat, Wembanyama spoke fondly of his time abroad, writes Larry Holder of The Athletic.
“It was a great experience,” Wembanyama said. “My goal going there was putting my body through things that it’s not used to doing and allowing my range of movement and strength. This was probably as very different as possible from what I’m used to doing.”
There’s more out of the Lone Star State:
- The Spurs were considered a potential Kevin Durant suitor and were said to be among his preferred landing spots, but he’ll join one of San Antonio’s division rivals instead. According to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required), the Spurs’ refusal to include either the No. 2 overall pick or Stephon Castle in their offer is believed to have prompted Phoenix to look elsewhere. Multiple reports indicated San Antonio wasn’t one of the teams engaged in serious trade talks with the Suns.
- The Rockets‘ decision to trade Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft and five future second rounders for Durant should give Houston the go-to scorer the team has been missing and will create more lineup optionality for head coach Ime Udoka, write Doug Haller, Sam Amick, and Kelly Iko of The Athletic. The Rockets’ elite defense and Durant’s offensive weapons make them a “match made in heaven,” The Athletic adds.
- The Mavericks control the top pick in this week’s impending draft and are expected to use it on superstar Duke forward Cooper Flagg. The 6’8″ phenom’s longtime trainer, Matt MacKenzie, recently raved to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscriber link) about Flagg’s relentless drive and stunning aptitude. “You only had to tell him something once and he was immediately starting to apply it into drill work,” MacKenzie told Curtis, “and then I would watch his games and he would immediately start to try to apply it into his game. So there was just an incredibly steep learning curve. He was able to pick up on things quickly. It was very natural to him.”
Don’t think he meant, “an incredibly steep learning curve.”
It’s a weird phrase. I understand why MacKenzie would use it to suggest rapid progress, even though it generally means the opposite.
Wemby was watching movies and thought Kareem and Bruce Lee, eh why not give it a try.
from the slums of shaolin, wu tang clan strikes again
Excellent deal for the Rockets
FVV Thompson Durant Jabari Sengun
Reed Whitmore Eason Adams
Fred being a playmaking point that can score, Thompson with his elite defence, KD the go to scorer and arguable one of the best in the league still, Jabari a nice 3 and D big and then Sengun now as a second option.
Tari and Adams off the bench is great for different match ups, Reed needs to step up and atleast be a shooter, Cam now has a cleared path to minutes and needs to seize the opportunity.
I really rate Udoka as a coach and now it’ll be interesting to see how FA goes for them and if they draw more interest from guys wanting to win and willing to sacrifice some money. They should add competition for Reed and a 2 way wing to compete with Cam aswell.
As for the Suns I’ll be interesting to see what they do moving forward. Can’t have 3 SG’s with Booker Beal and Green. Brooks was a nice addition and gives them some grit at SF but they also lack big men. Richards I thought would be better than he was but maybe with a full preseason and abit more familiarity with the team he might be better this season.
Need to somehow move off Beal at a minimum or try get something decent from Green.
Still like my idea of sending Green to Utah for John Collins and Colin Sexton and trying to move up from 29th pick to that 21st overall pick.
Sexton Booker Brooks Collins Richards
Beal as sixth man plus 10th and 21st picks
I also like Ryan Dunn in there
Which player would you rather have? A 26 year old that scored 18.4 PPG on a .480/.406/.865 shooting slash that averages 4.2 APG making $18.9 on an expiring deal or a 23 year old that averaged 21 PPG on a .423/.354/.813 shooting slash that averaged 3.4 APG that you have to pay $105 million to for the next three seasons. Not only that but you have to drop back 8 spots in the upcoming draft and throw in a decent PF to have the pleasure of paying more money to the less consistent player.