BREAKING NEWS: Victor Wembanyama’s 12-Month Body Transformation Proves ‘Impressive on Paper’.giang

The NBA is preparing for a big season from San Antonio Spurs’ center Victor Wembanyama following the French star’s impressive muscle gain.

Despite the Spurs losing their opening night match against Dallas Mavericks 120-109, Wembanyama clocked 28 minutes and ended the game with 17 points, nine rebounds, one assist and a game-high-tying four turnovers. The 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year took the division by storm last season, but thanks to a regime that has seen him gain 11kg over the past 12 months, he is anticipated to make even greater strides this year.

After the defeat, Wemby hinted at the physical toll the game was taking on him despite his outstanding performance. Standing at 2.21 m (7’3″), the player they nicknamed ‘the alien’ claimed the loss to Dallas was a mixed bag overall, according to ESPN.

“Some moments felt great,” Wembanyama said after the game. “A little hard conditioning-wise at first, of course [as] I expected. But I think we had some good basketball moments and some really bad ones.”

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Now weighing in at 106kg, there is hope that Wembanyama’s body will adapt to the demands of the NBA. Before his first season in the big leagues, he weighed 95kg and fans have been discussing his transformation, but how much will his new-found muscle alter his game?

Wembanyama is primarily recognized for his unique blend of remarkable athletic agility and towering stature. However, this very attribute has led both Wembanyama and his team to exercise caution when it comes to bulking up, as reported by RMC Sport.

With Wembanyama, it’s always a numbers game. Initially, the buzz was all about his height, then came his position as the No. 1 draft pick in 2023, a first in French basketball history. That was then followed by his impressive stats during his debut NBA season, including multiple triple-doubles and games where he scored over 30 points, reports the Irish Star.

At a Spurs media event on October 1 this year, another figure took center stage: the 11kg that the French prodigy had put on in just one season. The 20-year-old’s significant muscle gain is thought to be the result of dedicated nutritional efforts.

Manuel Lacroix, a current physical trainer for France’s basketball team who has worked with Wembanyama, believes his gains will enable him to match players like Denver’s Nikola Jokic in terms of brute physicality. The trainer also emphasized that Wemby has packed on muscle, not fat, and hailed it as an impressive transformation.

“Being heavier will allow him to oppose a greater body mass and weight in ground duels with all those players who are currently heavier than him and regularly try, like Nikola Jokic, to push him back and hit him. Victor will now have more muscle mass to counter that, hence greater resistance,” he said.

“Muscle mass is lean mass, so it’s not fat mass. This makes him stronger. By gaining this muscle mass, besides opposing a greater weight, he will exert greater force. He is stronger than before. It’s therefore a very interesting progression for contacts and ground duels.”

While working with Wembanyama at Asvel, Lacroix remembers the challenge of maintaining the weight of the future No. 1 draft pick. He says the young player experienced many “fluctuations” but eventually leveled out, adding: “On paper, it’s impressive. But it was done very gradually.

“The idea was for Victor to gain muscle mass, but not too much at once. It should be gradual so that his body has time to adapt and his joints can adjust.

“We must highlight the excellent work done with Guillaume Alquier, his physical trainer, because the weight gain was done intelligently.”

Pierre-Yves Couve, Wembanyama’s physiotherapist for France’s U16 team, suggests the Spurs’ star’s weight gain is not so surprising. He also mentioned that he still has some distance to cover to match some of the ‘true’ heavyweights of Basketball’s top division.

“In photos, it doesn’t shock me,” he said. “I don’t think he’s become a giant either, which is very good. We mustn’t forget that with physiological evolution, we start by growing taller; that’s why we’re all a bit thin before broadening between ages 20 and 30. So it doesn’t shock me. At 106kg for 2.22m, he’s still below many other players.”

Couve also reminisced about an adolescent who “struggled to reach 80kg for 2.20m” from his days as a physiotherapist for France’s youth team. San Antonio’s trainer Guillaume Alquier added: “The priority is strength in the lower body, so that he is powerful enough to be able to absorb and link contact, and to run with his feet low on the ground.”

Nevertheless, Couve cautioned against excessive weight gain: “11kg isn’t a problem. But if you put 15kg back on him next year, I’ll be a bit more worried. Because after a while, there’s bound to be some bad fat, not just muscle.”

Lacroix acknowledged the difficulty of managing a unique talent like Wemby, emphasizing the challenge due to the players distinctiveness, adding: “Is it still possible to gain weight next year? Yes, of course, it’s possible. It’s not out of the question that it could be part of Spurs’ strategy as long as all the indicators are green.

“He’s performing well, he’s not injured much, he’s making progress, he’s stabilising his weight. All the indicators are green. After that, it’s impossible to know how high his weight needs to go. There’s no such thing as a player like Victor, so I don’t have anything to compare him with.”