Victor Wembanyama’s offseason has turned into its own kind of basketball subplot, and this summer the focus is squarely on one thing: getting stronger.
Wembanyama has built a reputation for unusual summer work, from training with NBA legends to spending time with Shaolin monks. Last offseason, while he was dealing with the mental fallout of having his second NBA season derailed by blood clots, he went to China to clear his head and sharpen his perspective. He also leaned on Kevin Garnett as a sounding board while working on his intensity.
This year, the approach looks different. Wembanyama has been open about putting more emphasis on the physical side of his game, and he and several Spurs teammates went to France for a week of hard workouts. Now he’s taken that a step further with a new training routine.
One of the more unusual pieces of that routine has been rugby. France may live and breathe soccer first, with basketball, tennis and handball all trailing behind, but rugby still has a solid foothold there. Wembanyama spent time with France’s rugby team in an effort to toughen up and make sure he isn’t getting pushed around.
“To everyone’s surprise, the Frenchman took part in several drills during on-field training sessions, but also fully immersed himself alongside the Provence Rugby group, sharing the players’ day-to-day life," reported L'Équipe's Maxime Aubin.
That kind of full buy-in fits the pattern. Last summer, Wembanyama completely immersed himself in the Shaolin temple, eating, reading and training with the monks. This summer, the setting is closer to home, but the mindset appears just as committed.
Whether the work shows up as added muscle remains to be seen. What’s already clear is that Wembanyama was plenty physical in the postseason, getting into it with Naz Reid, Jalen Brusnon and Mitchell Robinson to the point that he was labeled a “dirty player.”
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