Tariq Abdul-Wahad, forever the first!

« With the eleventh pick in the 1997 NBA draft, the Sacramento Kings select Olivier St. Jean from San Jose State University. “. It has already been twenty-eight years since the late David Stern uttered this line, heralding the coming the first French basketball player at the most prestigious championship in the world. Although his career had more downs than ups, Tariq Abdul Wahad, born on November 3, 1974, will forever remain the one who opened the breakthrough and put an end to half a century of waiting for our country.

Hailing from Maisons-Alfort where he was born under the surname Olivier Saint Jean, “TAV” followed his training across the Atlantic to the NCAA, which was still very rare for young French talent at the time. European junior champion with the French team in 1992, he immediately joined the prestigious University of Michigan at the age of nineteen. On a very talented team (Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, etc.), he has few opportunities to express himself on the court. After two years with the Wolverines, he decided to switch colleges and head west to San Jose State, a much less prestigious university but where he enjoyed plenty of freedom and playing time.

He excelled with the Spartans, averaging 17 points during his junior year and especially 23.8 points and 8.8 rebounds during his freshman year, making him one of the most followed outside players in his class.

Expected in the second round, he made a very strong impression during pre-draft training camps and saw his rating skyrocket before the Kings finally kept him at the eleventh position.

His role is already clearly defined: learning the profession at the same time Mitch Richmondand then take the starting position when the latter retires. His debut was slightly delayed due to an injury, but on November 11, 1997, in Miami, Tariq Abdul-Wahad became the first Frenchman to step onto the floor of the NBA. He scored a basket in only ten minutes of the game. His impact remained fairly weak until March when he appeared in the starting five.

He had his moment of glory in the last game of the season, against Vancouver, with 31 points, which is his career high. But what he remembers from this first season is his own the first match against Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan is asking to see him on the court

“It was my rookie year, so 1997-1998. Chicago comes to Sacramento, Eddie Jordan announces before the game that everybody’s going to play. I don’t know if you get the scene. You know how historically important the moment is. Everybody’s going to be back on the court. Earn? We’re not going all out, guys, we’re going to win today. Eddie Jordan is today. I knew we were going to face a historic team, because playing against Michael Jordan, against Scotty Pippen, against Ron Harper, against a team that’s going to lose between 9 and 15 games a year, that’s something you have to experience.

Oscillating between the 2 and 3 positions, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, then a rookie, knew he would have to compete against the most dominant player of his era. And what was supposed to happen happened…

“That’s how the game starts… and Jordan, the guy himself, says to the coach during the match: ‘Bring the French, the little French there’ (laughter). ‘Bring in the French!’. He is the one who says who must play in the opposing team! If those aren’t boss moves, I don’t know what a boss is.” he says. “It’s a movie script thing… So I go out on the court, and of course I defend on Georgiana. He moves me a little bit, tick-tack, I didn’t understand anything. The second time I say to myself: ‘It’s a bit faded, I’ve been watching him on TV for 5-6 years’. So even if we’re going to go for the fan’, we know what’s going to happen. myself, instead of trying to counter with my right hand, because I know he’s starting from the baseline on the fadeaway and he’s going to turn left shoulder, I’m going to go there with my left hand to have a chance to counter, I’m going left-handed, I’m touching the ball with my left hand, so I’m going to go with the tip of my finger to the gu And then, the ball goes right in the circle and I see him going back with his shoulders and his little head compared to his body.

That night, Michael Jordan scored 33 points, and in rare footage we actually see Tariq Abdul-Wahad pull off a first-time header before he was on the verge of a layup, only to finally get another basket in front of MJ at the end of the possession.

Chilling with Doc Rivers

The lockout cut Abdul-Wahad’s sophomore campaign to fifty games. After becoming the starter after being traded from Richmond to Washington, he continued to improve and had a very good season. His defensive qualities are especially praised by the entire NBA, in France we discovered his immense athletic potential during Euro 1999. His story with the Blues ended with the sad story of “high socks”, and will not be going to the Sydney 2000 Olympics. But no one has forgotten the incredible first round performance in Toulouse produced by TAV, Mous Sonko and Alain Digbeu.

He’s back in the NBA, and we have every right to think he’ll settle into the Kings’ rotation permanently. Except they sent him to Orlando during the offseason in exchange for Nick Anderson. This new beginning turned out to be very positive for the Frenchman. Doc Rivers, Orlando’s new coach, praises his tenacity and aggressiveness on defense and gives him significant playing time, which Abdul-Wahad takes advantage of. He averaged 12.2 points and 5.2 rebounds, but on February 1, 2000, he learned that he was being sent to Denver to everyone’s surprise. It took him just four games to become a starter at point guard for the Nuggets before ending his season prematurely in early March with a wrist injury.

At the end of the contract, Abdul-Wahad received a golden bridge, at that time, from the Colorado franchise: about thirty-five million dollars over seven years. He becomes the highest paid French athlete in the world, far ahead of all football stars, even though they are world champions. Unfortunately for him, this contract marks the beginning of the end of his NBA adventure. In the 2000–01 season, he played only twenty-nine matches after various injuries, especially to his knee. Returning at the start of the following season, he re-injured his knee after just twenty-four matches despite regaining a starting spot. Back in February, he was sent to Dallas, where he played only four games at the end of the season.

Mark Cuban’s nightmare

Sidelined again with knee problems, the 2002-03 season did not begin for him until March. Tariq Abdul-Wahad plays the last fourteen games of the season, followed by eight playoff games. We will never see him on the official game floor again in the United States. Unwanted in Dallas, he played twice during the preseason in October 2003, but was no longer part of the regular season. Then he comes into conflict with the Texas franchise that is trying him unable to continue his career and who therefore hopes to have the remaining four years of his contract voided. On the contrary, he believes that he can continue the competition. In the end, Abdul-Wahad remained on the Mavericks’ roster and payroll, earning tens of millions of dollars without playing.

On February 21, 2005, “TAV” published a message on the front page of its official website. “That’s it. I’ve decided. From now on I’m changing my image. Gifts at every step, interviews with all the journalists who want them without time limits, duration and questions, massive pumping, a blessing to all those who only want good for me by offering me the worst hypocrisy. Yes, I tell you: in the final, I’m for those who are different from 2005. I…” he writes. “This is the only way I can apologize for telling the truth. For being honest and fair to my conscience. Proof: I returned to the Mavericks for a month. I rejoined the collective sessions at the request of the club, but not of my own free will. For what future? I don’t know yet. But you have to believe that the reality is for those who were already very difficult and wanted to return. prosecution”.

Without a club at the end of his contract in 2006, he never deigned to respond to the demands of European clubs who wanted to hire him and even decided to completely separate himself from the microcosm of professional basketball.

He returned to live in San Jose where he graduated with a degree in art history in 2008. Basketball is not far away, as he manages the Lincoln High School team after a stint at NCAA Division II Cal State Monterrey Bay where he was an assistant coach for the women’s team.

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How to read statistics? MJ = matches played; Min = Minute; Shots = Shots Successful / Shots Attempted; 3 points = 3 points / attempt 3 points; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive jump; Tot = Total number of jumps; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal mistakes; Int = intercepts; Bp = lost balls; Ct: Against; Points = Points.