Victor Wembanyama’s agent shoots down some execs’ idea top prospect should shut it down until NBA draft

As NBA executives consider the transformative impact 7-foot-4 French prospect Victor Wembanyama’s performance on Tuesday could impose on the NBA’s tanking and trade market this season, his agent insists that there’s no plan to listen to some team executives who suggest shutting down the projected No. 1 pick until the 2023 NBA draft in June.

“NBA people are telling me to shut him down, and we are not going to shut him down,” Bouna Ndiaye told ESPN on Wednesday. “If we came with that kind of talk to [Wembanyama], he will look at us and say, ‘What are you talking about?’ He’ll never agree to that. He wants to compete and get better. With Victor, it’s basketball first and everything else second. He was so pissed off that he lost.”

Wembanyama’s brilliance was met with a spectacular performance out of G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson, who is expected to be the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. In the history of potential 1-2 draft-pick matchups, it has been rare to have both players show such a high level of skill, maturity and potential in a head-to-head performance.

As impressive as Henderson’s potential appears as a franchise lead guard, it is Wembanyama’s unprecedented combination of size, skill and substance at 18 years old that mesmerized approximately 200 NBA executives and scouts in attendance in suburban Las Vegas and reaffirmed beliefs that this promises to be a transformational player and historic NBA draft. “Victor distorts basketball reality,” one GM told ESPN on Wednesday. “The tank/trade market will really shift after that showing. It feels like last night will start a race to the bottom like we’ve never seen.”

Speaking in Las Vegas later on Wednesday, Wembanyama expressed bemusement about the idea of NBA teams tanking to have a better chance to draft him.

“Of course, the word and the meaning behind the word is kind of weird,” he said. “Personally, I would never want to lose. It’s just a personal thing. But I really try to stay outside of it….