Barack Obama confessed he is utterly captivated by Victor Wembanyama.

The towering 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs sensation has just started his second campaign in the NBA. The French prodigy entered the NBA in 2023 with a level of hype not seen since LeBron James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.

While the Spurs did not reach the playoffs, he left enough of an impression to leave fans excited for his second campaign. One of his biggest supporters is Obama, who has already compared him to many other NBA colossuses.

While chatting on the ‘Young Man and The Three’ podcast, Obama couldn’t help but express his fascination with Wembanyama. He said: “It’s hard to take your eyes off Wembanyama when he’s on the court.

“You’re too young to remember when [Kevin] Durant first came in the league. That was freakish. You just hadn’t seen somebody that tall with that skill set.

“You’re definitely not old enough to remember Magic [Johnson] and [Larry] Bird. People forget how tall Bird was. Bird was like a legit 6-foot-9 and Magic was 6-foot-9. Those guys were doing things that, up until that point, big men hadn’t done.”

Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs tries to block shot of Jett Howard #13 of the Orlando Magic in the first half of a preseason game at Frost Bank Center on October 9, 2024 in San Antonio, Texas

Victor Wembanyama enjoyed an impressive debut season ( 

Image:

Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)

Wembanyama contributed 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists and also led the league with 3.6 blocks per game in his debut campaign. His second NBA season started with 17 points, one assist, and nine rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Spurs from falling 120-109 to the Mavericks.

His performance was remarkable, given that he logged only 39.8 minutes in the five pre-season games of the Spurs. Still, Wembanyama acknowledged feeling the physical toll, noting after the game that while there were instances of greatness, his conditioning posed a challenge.

After the match, he said: “Some moments felt great. A little hard conditioning-wise at first, of course [as] I expected. But I think we had some good basketball moments and some really bad ones.

“None of us really have played four games since [the] middle of the summer for me. It’s a struggle. Every player in the NBA goes through it.

“Conditioning is not an excuse [for missed shots]. I’ll have different weapons we need to know when to use. So, for the missed shots, it’s more getting used to taking shots, getting used to again taking shots in a game.”