Victor Wembanyama will not be able to select one of his preferred jersey numbers when he officially joins the NBA.
The 19-year-old is widely expected to be the number one overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Draft. The Spurs were awarded the pick in the Draft Lottery in May, and will almost certainly pick Wembanyama.
The Charlotte Hornets have the number two pick in the draft, while the Portland Trail Blazers are at three. Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller are the two players who are anticipated to be the next picks after Wembanyama in the draft.
Building up to the draft there has been a great deal of hype around Wembanyama, who has previously been playing in France with Metropolitans 92. The teenager finished the season winning several awards including league MVP, Best Young Player, Best Defender, Top Scorer, and Best Blocker in the French league.
Wembanyama wore the jersey number one while with the French team, but that’s not the case when he represents his country. The center wears the jersey number 32 when playing for France.
Wembanyama has a reason for choosing that number for his national team. In December, he explained that he chose 32 due to NBA legend Magic Johnson, who wore that number during his career with the Lakers.
"There are several of them [reasons],” Wembanyama told French news outlet Le Parisien in December 2022, when asked for the reasons behind his jersey numbers.
“Among these is a reference to Magic Johnson, who also wore it. With Metropolitans 92, I wear number one to be number 1 because that's my mentality.
"I don't want to leave others behind or put anyone down, but I want to be the first, the number one. That's clear. I know that when I say that, people find me arrogant. But those who think so have understood nothing.”
But should Wembanyama be selected by the Spurs, then he won’t be able to do that in the NBA. That's because the number 32 jersey is retired by the Spurs in honour of Sean Elliott.
Every team in the league has a certain number of jersey numbers that are retired. In the case of the Spurs, it is retired for former forward Elliott, who won the NBA Championship with the team in 1999 and spent seven seasons in Texas.
Some retired jersey numbers are worn. For example, LeBron James wears the No.6 for the Los Angeles Lakers despite it being retired across the entire NBA in honour of Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. However, that retirement happened when James already had the No.6 and he was therefore allowed to keep wearing it.
For Wembanyama, the No.32 is off the table. With the No.1 he wears for his French club side available in San Antonio, that appears the obvious alternative choice.
