Why isn’t Victor Wembanyama playing for France at the FIBA World Cup this summer?

Until just a few days ago, the new San Antonio Spurs basketball player declared that he would be available to the Tricolors, but now he has made, as he says, a difficult but final decision.

“[Spurs] would support me no matter what I decided. I made that decision because of my development and to not overload my body. I hope people will understand, and this is frustrating for me too. The French national team is still important to me, I want us to win as many titles as possible, but this is a necessary sacrifice,” says Wembanyama for L’Equipe.

If Wembanyama sticks to his decision, he won’t be able to play with France at a major tournament until next year’s Paris Olympics. The Spurs picked the 19-year-old prodigy, which comes with enormous expectations to become basketball’s newest sensation. Wembanyama is far taller and hyped than most No.1 picks, standing at 7-foot-4. In his final season, he dominated the French league, leading all players in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. Wembanyama hesitated a lot and emphasized the need to preserve his body, especially after a long season with his club, Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92, which made it to the finals in the French league.

Vincent Collet, the coach of France and until recently Wembanyama’s coach in the Metropolitans, was thus left without one of the critical assets and the opportunity to fit the 19-year-old into the team before the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.

The 2023 FIBA World Cup starts on August 25, and France is in a group with Canada, Latvia, and Lebanon.