Victor Wembanyama, Forward, Metropolitans 92
If you’ve been following the NBA news cycle are have even had a vague interest in this year’s top 2023 NBA Draft prospects, you almost certainly knew who would be at the top of this list. Of course, I’m referring to none other than the French phenom Victor Wembanyama.
Recently reported to have grown to stand at 7-foot-5 by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and draft expert Jonathan Givony, Wembanyama has now grown tall enough to dwarf even former gargantuan NBA players such as Yao Ming, Boban Marjanovic, and Shaquille O’Neal. What’s most terrifying of all, however, is that unlike his predecessors Wembanyama has (relative) lateral quickness, ball-handling skills, and a dangerous outside shot.
There’s simply no understating this, we have never seen a basketball player like Victor Wembanyama. He is one of a few exceedingly rare cases of when a player has elite skills and freakish natural physical gifts at his disposal. There are plenty of intriguing prospects in this draft, but make no mistake, whoever wins the draft lottery will be selecting Wembanyama first overall.
Landing Victor Wembanyama in the draft would radically alter the future trajectory of the Chicago Bulls.
With the NBA’s newly implemented system of flattened odds for the first overall pick, the Chicago Bulls now have as much incentive to bottom out now as they’ll ever have. We saw just a few years ago that this strategy can be a fruitful one even if you’re not one of the worst teams in the league, as the New Orleans Pelicans landed Zion Williamson with only 6% odds.
The Bulls currently hold a 7.5% chance to win the first pick, but as I mentioned earlier, they’re only 1.5 games removed from bumping up two slots in the lottery. If Chicago can slip beneath the Pacers and Magic, their odds of retaining their pick at all leap 10%, and their chances of landing Wembanyama increase to a respectable 10.5%. Considering even the worst team in the NBA only gets a 14% shot at winning it all, this is a much better chance than it may sound.
If the Bulls can retain their core of players that achieved a 46-36 record just one season ago and add a truly elite prospect on top of that, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for this team just yet. But for that to happen, this team must get their priorities in order, and do it fast.