Victor Wembanyama's jersey from his NBA debut has sold for $762K, nearly eight times the estimated price. The auction, handled by Sotheby's, opened last week and closed yesterday with an anonymous bidder coming away with the one-of-a-kind item. Of course, the price tag is nowhere close to the record set by Michael Jordan's 1998 Finals jersey ($10.091M). However, it's an amazing price for the jersey of a player less than 20 games into his NBA career. Furthermore, it did set a new record for the sale of an NBA rookie debut jersey. The all-time record for a full rookie uniform was set in 2021 with the sale of Kobe's rookie kit.
A major contributing factor to the auction, which reportedly drew 62 bids alone, is how Wembanyama has gone from strength to strength over the course of his young career. Of course, Wembanyama is no ordinary rookie. The Frenchman has been professionally in the well-regarded French league since 2019. While many European players come to the NBA with prior professional experience, few have that experience at the same level or hype as Wembanyama. By comparison, two-time MVP Nikola, who played three years in Serbia before the NBA, was a mid-second-round pick in 2014.
How Is Wembanyama's Rookie Season Going?
Through 14 games, Wembanyama is averaging an incredibly solid stat line - 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.6 blocks. Is he going to win MVP as a rookie? No. However, he is already making his present felt as a versatile and unpredictable player that opposing teams are still trying to solve. However, the next step will be for the Spurs to build a team around Wembanyama. After a surprisingly competitive start, the Spurs are 3-11 and have lost their last nine games in a row. The Spurs simply don't have the pieces to be a competitive team.
Despite this, the expectations are still sky-high for the rookie. Every time he has a bad performance, it's dissected and then the blame is immediately placed on Wembanyama's shoulders. "After righting the ship for two games, Wembanyama suffered a massive regression in the loss. Even though the Spurs were outplayed across the board, Wembanyama's season-low three-rebound total was notable. The Spurs have now lost nine straight games, and they need their rookie to pay off the investment with more consistency," ESPN wrote of Wembanyama's performance against the Clippers in their fantasy basketball section.
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