Victor Wembanyama skilled with Corridor of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon in September after spending his offseason recovering from a deep vein thrombosis analysis in his proper shoulder that was each career- and life-threatening. The 21-year-old Spurs star attended Olajuwon’s massive man camp in Katy, Texas, finishing 4 2½-hour exercises.
One supply near Wembanyama says the ordeal deeply affected the 2023-24 Rookie of the 12 months. The analysis impressed “a journey to push himself to be nice bodily and mentally with issues that had been exterior the field,” in line with the supply.
Wembanyama spent 10 days at a Shaolin temple in Zhenzhou, China, the place he studied Chan meditation and Shaolin Kung Fu. He woke at 4:30 a.m. each day and ate vegetarian meals whereas coaching with monks.
“The traumatic expertise … may be very a lot linked to all of the stuff I’ve executed in the summertime,” Wembanyama advised ESPN. “Spending a lot time in hospitals, round medical doctors and listening to extra dangerous information that I want I hadn’t heard, in fact, it’s traumatic.”
The Spurs phenom additionally performed soccer in Costa Rica and Tokyo, visited NASA’s Johnson Area Heart, and frolicked with Kevin Garnett. One staff supply advised ESPN that Spurs brass supported Wembanyama’s unconventional coaching plans.
Olajuwon, whose resume contains two championships and 12 All-Star appearances, labored with Wembanyama on leverage and effectivity. The Corridor of Famer emphasised a “massive guards” idea relatively than conventional massive man methods.
“Our idea was not for ‘massive males.’ Our idea was ‘massive guards,'” Olajuwon advised ESPN. “You do not wish to dribble like an enormous man.”
Wembanyama developed his personal variation of Olajuwon’s “Dream Shake” and added tightly-wound spin strikes. Teammate Jeremy Sochan stated the evolution is already seen.
“I can guarantee you no person has skilled like I did this summer time,” Wembanyama stated. “I believe I’ve maxed out what I may do in a single summer time.”
