Victor Wembanyama

A Basketball Family in Le Chesnay

Wembanyama grew up in Le Chesnay, near Versailles, according to an ESPN feature by Brian Windhorst and Jonathan Givony published in May 2023. Height and sport ran through the household. His mother, Elodie, is 6 ft 3 in and played basketball professionally in France before coaching young children. His father, Felix, is 6 ft 6 in, a former competitive long jumper who went on to work with young track athletes.

His sister, Eve, is 6 ft 1 in and plays professionally in France and for the national team. His brother, Oscar, is 6 ft 6 in and also plays. In the same ESPN piece, Wembanyama described himself this way: "I was probably born with that will to do things differently and do things my way."

Nanterre 92, ASVEL and Metropolitans 92

ESPN reported that he joined the Nanterre 92 youth program at 14, lived in the club's dormitory, and attended a nearby high school under the club's supervision. He played his first professional game for Nanterre at 15.

From Nanterre he moved to ASVEL, where he was the youngest player on the roster. In the 2021-22 season he played under 20 minutes a game, partly because of injuries, and the team won the French league title. ESPN dates his ASVEL stay as 2020-22; other listings give only the 2021-22 season.

His last French season, 2022-23, was with Metropolitans 92 under coach Vincent Collet. Wembanyama led the league in points, rebounds and blocks and averaged 21.8 points across 32 games.

The No. 1 Pick in 2023

The Spurs took Wembanyama first overall in the 2023 NBA Draft. Before the draft, NBC Sports Chicago worked out what the top pick would earn under the league's rookie scale: a base value of $10.13 million for the No. 1 slot, with teams expected to pay the maximum 120 percent, about $12.16 million in year one and up to $12.77 million in year two. Those were pre-draft projections, not the signed contract, and they cover only the first two years.

He was named Rookie of the Year and made the All-Rookie Team, according to his NBA.com award list. In the summer of 2024 he played for France at the Paris Olympics, where the team won silver.

The Blood Clot of February 2025

On February 20, 2025, the Spurs said Wembanyama had deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, found after he returned to San Antonio from the All-Star Game. ESPN reported that he would miss the rest of the 2024-25 season. Acting head coach Mitch Johnson said at the time, "There is no reason to believe he won't be ready to go starting next season."

Unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in 2025-26

He came back for 2025-26 and played 64 games, averaging 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds. He led the NBA with 3.08 blocks per game. On March 30 against the Chicago Bulls he reached 10 points and 10 rebounds in 8 minutes and 31 seconds, the fastest double-double in NBA history, ESPN reported.

That season he won Defensive Player of the Year. KSAT reported that he was the youngest player to win it and the first unanimous winner, and that he made the All-Defensive First Team. He was named to the All-NBA first team and played in his second All-Star Game, his first as a starter. NBA.com now lists two All-Star selections and two All-Defensive Team selections for him.

NBA.com also lists a Western Conference Finals MVP award. The Spurs went on to lose the 2026 NBA Finals to the New York Knicks in five games.

The Knicks Finals and the $252 Million Extension

The day after the Finals ended, Wembanyama became eligible for a rookie-scale extension. In July 2026 ESPN's Shams Charania reported, citing sources, that he and the Spurs had agreed to a five-year maximum extension worth $252 million, with a player option in the fifth season and no escalators. The Spurs did not disclose the terms.

The detail in ESPN's report is in what the deal leaves out. It is a 25 percent maximum, not the 30 percent supermax, which ESPN said would have taken the deal to $303 million. At $252 million it is the third-largest rookie extension, behind the $269 million deals signed by Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley.

Those two figures, the reported extension and the pre-draft rookie-scale projection, are the only contract numbers on the public record that this article can source. FamousBio does not give a net worth figure for him, since his endorsement income has not been reported with a value.

Sources

• Spurs bring Supreme, Balenciaga and Chrome Hearts to Austin ahead of Rockets showdown
• Victor Wembanyama | Forward-Center | San Antonio Spurs | NBA.com
• NBA 2023 Draft Prospects | Victor Wembanyama | NBA.com
• Inside the decade-long plan to bring Victor Wembanyama to NBA glory
• Here's how much money 2023 NBA Draft picks will make
• Spurs shut down Victor Wembanyama over blood clot in shoulder
• Sources: Spurs, Victor Wembanyama reach $252 million max extension
• Spurs sign Wembanyama to multi-year contract extension