Dave Portnoy is a Victor Wembanyama doubter.
The Barstool Sports founder revealed his thoughts about the French sensation minutes after he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs No. 1 overall during Thursday’s NBA Draft at Barclays Center.
“I gotta be the only person on the planet that doesn’t think Wembayana is a sure thing,” Portnoy said in a tweet. “That body screams break down to me.”
But even Portnoy, with his doubts about Wembanyama’s long, slender build, wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick who many are calling the best prospect in decades.
“Don’t get me wrong I’d obviously draft him but I feel like guys like that always break down,” he said in a follow-up tweet.
The hype surrounding the 19-year-old basketball phenom is unlike anything since LeBron James two decades ago.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski touted him as “the most highly anticipated player to ever enter the NBA… Maybe the greatest prospect in the history of team sports.”
Many have wondered whether Wembanyama’s 7-foot-4, 230 pound body will be able to hold up during a grueling 82-game NBA season.
But he’s already trying to assuage his skeptics.
“They can think that because they don’t know my work ethic,” he said on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “I know how I work, how we work, in my surroundings, my environment. I could never have any doubt.”
Wembanyama has been compared to Kevin Durant and Kevin Garnett — who both have had Hall of Fame-level careers with tall, lanky builds — by ESPN’s draft analyst Jonathan Givony.
Wembanyama said he is looking forward to playing with the Spurs — even before he was picked by the team on Thursday night.
“For me, San Antonio is a city of winning,” Wembanyama said Wednesday. “On lottery night, when the Spurs got the No. 1 pick, I was feeling lucky they got the pick as a franchise that has that culture and experience in winning. So I really can’t wait.”
