He couldn’t be absent for the big night. On June 22, when Victor Wembanyama first heard his name come out of Adam Silver’s mouth, Bouna Ndiaye was there around the table, in the famous New York “Green Room”, with the other close friends of the future Spurs player.
” To be at this table with the best player in this group means a lot to me and to a lot of people because I am this kid who comes from Africa, who grew up in France, and to be at the table of a number 1 , it’s not just for me, it’s for anyone on the planet “, delivers the agent of the French player to Andscape, who interviewed him at length.
He even sees in this selection a “ message of hope in reaching the most prestigious of steps. Like the former Mets player, the co-founder of the overpowering Comsport agency also saw a dream come true by linking his destiny to that of the greatest hope of French basketball.
With ” Victor », the agent can aim for even higher spheres than with the many big names in basketball he has already accompanied (Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier, Ian Mahinmi…). The “dream” occupies a central place with him. ” What motivates me is that someone wants to make their dreams come true. This is my first motivation. Young children came to see me to tell me: ‘It’s my dream, I want to achieve it’. My goal starts with them. This is what motivates me every day. I started trying to take care of my brothers and people from my neighborhood in France. I have helped so many children become good people “, remembers Bouna Ndiaye, who ensures that he was nicknamed “the agent of the players of the district”, and whose first big client was Makan Dioumassi.
“Uncomfortable” to see him at 11
The links between Victor Wembanyama and him go back. Bouna Ndiaye has known the player’s parents for almost 30 years, and the basketball player’s mother even coached the agent’s son when he was 4-5 years old. Long before Victor Wembanyama was born.
These ” addicted of the orange ball who have become friends have always been evolving in the basketball universe.
” Then Victor was born and when he was about 11, Jeremy (Medjana), my partner, said to me: ‘We have to look into this boy. He is special‘”, recalls the agent, who was initially reluctant to take an interest in the player. He even waited another year and a half before going to see him for the first time. ” I called Elodie (note: his mother) and I told him I was just going to watch a game. ‘Yes, Sunday, that’s it. Relax. Don’t worry.’ I felt uncomfortable going to see a kid of 11, 12 or 13 years old. It was the first time I had seen him with my own eyes. »
He is not disappointed with the trip: by observing it, he becomes aware of the potential. It is the beginning of an adventure of several years which will lead all these little people until this evening, historic for French basketball, in June.
Obviously, this old family connection facilitated the rapprochement between the two parties.
” Even though he’s supposed to be the best (agent) – Jeremy and him are supposed to be the best in France, one of the best in the world – it was not an obvious choice for me to work with them three or four years ago. But when I spoke with him and Jeremy, I felt they could be more than just agents. They are friends who really know me. They don’t care about money. They don’t care about contracts. […] We have something bigger to do. They yearn for greatness “says the native of Nanterre in a speech that overflows with serenity. Which will not surprise his representative.
Always head on shoulders
” I’ve been an agent for 30 years, I’ve seen a lot of smart, interesting, mature and charismatic young people. But Victor is unique. I’m just giving you an example. Last year he spent four months in Dallas. I invited him out to eat. We asked him a lot of questions to get to know him better for nearly two and a half hours. Two days later, he calls me to ask me if we can still go to dinner. And there, he asked me questions for hours. That’s Victor. He’s a smart boy. He has his head on his shoulders. Wise. I said to him: ‘You are not 19, you are 35’. »
An even more recent example of this maturity: while he is overexposed today and oversold everywhere since the Draft, the Frenchman says he wants to refocus on the essentials: the field. ” Last month I played basketball 50% of the time. It’s a special moment in my life. Honestly, I just want to play, train, elevate. It’s my life, of course. All first picks have to go through this. It makes me better for the future “, thinks the giant, who asked his agents to contain this agenda far from the prosecution.
” The only thing he told me was that he wanted to stay a basketball player and not chase after all those attention-grabbing things with all the craziness around him. The last few days have been really crazy… This is the first (customer) to say to myself: ‘Hey, basketball first. Slow everything down. I do not want to do anything. I want to play basketball’. And that’s what we did. We canceled some activities to allow him to rest. He went to bed early and was able to return to form. He understood that he wanted to be a basketball player first and not an icon with a lot of attention and marketing. “, continues his agent.
The Britney Spears incident? “Welcome to America”
With this in mind, he should benefit from San Antonio, where he is still looking for his home for years to come and where Dallas-based Bouna Ndiaye will open an office, and from its much quieter market than those in New York or Los. Angeles. Far from potential tumults, without being immune to “incidents” like the one involving Britney Spears in Las Vegas.
” The Britney Spears incident was a very good ‘Welcome to America’ moment. Insignificant in one sense, but important in another. It was nothing. But there was so much ado about nothing and it became something. He was just walking. He was doing nothing. But it shows that in America everything is much bigger than anywhere else in the world », Formulates the agent who appreciated that his player was able to meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar whose physique and longevity in the Great League are a model for the Wembanyama camp.
But Bouna Ndiaye warns: “ You have to be patient, this is all a process. You saw it between game 1 and game 2 (in Summer League). It’s a process. He must understand it. It’s difficult to play here. Everyone wants to dunk on you. Everyone expects to beat him. And this will be the case every night of the next NBA season. Everyone will come after you. Everyone looks at you and says, ‘We’re going to chase you. This is what will happen. Nothing is easy. He knows it. Just adapt, keep working and be yourself. So it’s up to me to help him be himself. »
Photo credit : Bouna Ndiaye (instagram)
