Buckle your seatbelts, there appears to be another Wembanyama on the way.
Oscar Wembanyama, the 16-year-old brother of star Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama, has recently gone viral due to his own prowess on the basketball court.
At 6-foot-8, Oscar is several inches shorter than Wembanyama was at that age, but if he grows to be anywhere near as tall as his 20-year-old brother —who stands at 7-foot-4 — he might be a force to be reckoned with.
Oscar’s basketball journey began just two years ago, as his previous sport of choice was handball.
“In my city, all my friends did it. That’s what made me appreciate the sport. I think I was considered a prospect, you could say,” Oscar told Euroleague last year. “I played very little basketball, just with my mother because she organized training courses for children. I got into it in a club last year. I had been considering doing it for a year.”
He shifted to basketball during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There was a period when I was not doing anything because of COVID, and that emptiness pushed me to do something new, so I turned to basketball,” he said.
He told Euroleague that highlights of Jason Williams, the dazzling ballhandler who once starred for the Kings and Grizzlies, inspired his game.
Wembanyama was the first overall pick in last year’s NBA draft, and at this point, is the overwhelming favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award, with -5000 odds as of this writing on DraftKings.
In addition to his older brother, Oscar is also inspired by their sister, Eve.
“There is too little talk about my sister,” Oscar told Euroleague last year. “I watch all of her games, and there are things that inspire me about her, especially the intensity that she puts on the floor. She is incredible.”
