Here is a ranking that says a lot about the popularity of Victor Wembanyama.
Announced as a phenomenon but only a rookie, the Frenchman from the San Antonio Spurs is already very popular with basketball fans.
The NBA, in fact, unveiled this Tuesday, January 30, the list of players whose jerseys have sold the most on its online store since the start of the season.
And Victor Wembanyama already occupies fourth place in the ranking, for his first season across the Atlantic.
The League, however, has not communicated on the number of tunics sold.
Even if the Spurs, still beaten (113-118) on the night of Monday to Tuesday by the Washington Wizards of Bilal Coulibaly, are one of the worst teams (28th out of 30th), the slender interior has successfully adapted within the best World League.
His statistics during the first 41 games of the regular season (20.6 points; 10.1 rebounds; 3.1 assists and 3.1 blocks in 28.6 minutes) make him the favorite, with Chet Holmgren, for the title of rookie of the year.
Also read “Both deserve it”: between Wembanyama and Holmgren, the race for the rookie title rages in the NBA
Only three players therefore sold more jerseys than “Wemby” at mid-season.
They are Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) and LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers).
Logical, Curry and James having won the championship multiple times and are already considered NBA legends, while Tatum is the spearhead of the Celtics title candidates.
More surprisingly, Frenchy is ahead of superstars who have been part of the League for many years like Giannis Antetokounmpo (5th), Luka Doncic (6th), Kevin Durant (8th), Joel Embiid (12th) or Nikola Jokic (14th).
We have to go back to the 2015-2016 season to see a rookie appear so high in the rankings.
It was Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis, who was playing for the New York Knicks at the time.