Wembanyama: “We need to develop a winning culture.”

It’s media day period in the NBA and Victor Wembanyama spoke to microphones during the San Antonio Spurs’ media day, ready to start his second year in the league. As reported by Le Parisien, the French center shows that he has great mentality by aiming to grow the Spurs’ ambitions:

"I have often heard players say that the first year is the most difficult, but it is clear that we will have to do a great mental work to gain a new status in this league, to win more and to win the playoffs. It is a culture that needs to be developed. This year we will be more focused more on winning." And then he continued, talking about being leader of the team: "That’s clearly one of the goals I discussed with the coach: I’m not going to have second or third chances in every game anymore. I will have to be a leader by example."

He was also asked what he thought about any individual awards such as MVP, but as he has already shown this year, for him the team comes first: "Of course I want to be an All-Star, but that will happen if I can make my teammates better. If I can do that, I should not be too far behind in the individual trophy race."

He also talked about his experience at the Paris Olympics, the first major national sports event he has participated in: "It is the most intense sports experience of my career. There are only six games. It is very difficult to win one, but it is very easy to lose one. I discovered things that will be useful for my whole career."

The Spurs and Wembanyama also will have an extra weapon at their disposal this season, we are talking about Chris Paul, a venerable NBA maestro now and one that everyone is curious to see working with the Frenchman. "I’ve been watching him a lot, obviously. He is a great player. I remember watching him as a kid and I’m really excited. We all know he fits in and he’s doing his best to fill us in and teach us from day one", he said about the living playmaking legend.