Victor Vembanyama: Chess, Monks and the Road to Nassau – Vembanyama’s unusual pre-season

In an offseason that started two months earlier than planned due to injury, Vembanyama’s popularity continued to grow.

On his way to becoming the fastest player in NBA history to amass a total of one billion social media followers and likes on posts across various platforms, Wembanyama has made the most of his time away from the court.

Athletes often rest during downtime, but Wembanyama took it a step further – he spent 10 days at the Shaolin Temple in Zhengzhou, China, training with monks.

His journey did not stop there. Videos have surfaced of him playing soccer with locals in Costa Rica and Tokyo.

Nicknamed “The Alien”, Wembanyama also visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center, hosted a chess and basketball tournament in his backyard in Le Chaney, France, and met Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.

Vembanjama is also an avid reader, often found engrossed in a book in the hours leading up to games.

“He’s so intentional in different ways that he’s trying to improve as a player and as a person,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said.

“He’s constantly trying to push himself out of his comfort zone and learn new things.”

On the court, 1994 NBA Most Valuable Player and 12-time NBA All-Star Hakeem Olajuwon invited Wembanyama to train privately with him at one of the most exclusive camps in the sport. Previous participants include LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the late Kobe Bryant.

He also trained with another of the sport’s greats, Kevin Garnett, en route to his long-awaited return on Wednesday.

While Wembanyama said all of his extracurricular summer activities “deserve respect,” he’s putting a return to full basketball fitness above all else — with the help of time spent with Olajwon and Garnett.

“I assure you that no one trained like me this summer,” added the French star.

“I think I made the most of what I could do in one summer. Now I have to play basketball.”