Victor Wembanyama's amazing body transformation over 12 months for 2024-25 season - The Mirror

Victor Wembanyama has been one of the standout performers in the NBA over the past 18 months and the San Antonio Spurs' center has been able to pack on the pounds

The NBA is getting revved up for a blockbuster season from San Antonio Spurs' towering center Victor Wembanyama – especially after the French phenom bulked up impressively.

In spite of the Spurs’ opening night 120-109 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Wembanyama racked up 28 minutes on the court, tallying 17 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and dishing out one assist. Hot off being dubbed the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year last season, Wemby’s undergone a regimen that’s stacked an extra 11kg of muscle over the last year, setting him up for an even more formidable performance this season.

Post-game, Wembanyama shared with ESPN how he felt physically tested by the match despite his laudable stats, standing a staggering 2.21m (7'3") tall - earning him the nickname 'the Alien' - and acknowledged the ups and downs of their play. "Some moments felt great," he confessed. "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."

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Now tipping the scales at 106kg, hopes are high for Wemby’s ability to meet the rigorous demands of NBA play. Previously weighing in at 95kg before his premiere season, his transformation has fans buzzing about the impact on his game.

The extraordinary mix of profound athletic prowess and towering height has defined Wembanyama's career, leading both him and his team to tread carefully with his physical development, per RMC Sport. The towering athlete has consistently been a talking point – first for his sky-high stature, then as potentially the top pick for the 2023 NBA draft, which is unprecedented for a French player.

And since his eye-catching NBA entrance, he's dazzled spectators with multiple high-scoring games and triple-doubles.

During a Spurs media event on October 1, Wembanyama's 11kg muscle gain was the centre of attention – attributed to a meticulously structured nutrition plan. France's basketball squad physical trainer Manuel Lacroix, who knows Wembanyama well, foresees this physical upgrade pitting him against bulky stalwarts like Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic.

"Being heavier will allow him to oppose a greater body mass and weight in ground duels with all those players who are currently heavier than him and regularly try, like Nikola Jokic, to push him back and hit him. Victor will now have more muscle mass to counter that, hence greater resistance," Lacroix remarked on Wembanyama's transformation.

"Muscle mass is lean mass, so it's not fat mass. This makes him stronger. By gaining this muscle mass, besides opposing a greater weight, he will exert greater force. He is stronger than before. It's therefore a very interesting progression for contacts and ground duels."

Lacroix, who worked with Wembanyama at Asvel, recalled the challenge of maintaining the future No. 1 draft pick's weight. He noted that the young player experienced many "fluctuations" but eventually stabilised, adding: "On paper, it's impressive. But it was done very gradually.

"The idea was for Victor to gain muscle mass, but not too much at once. It should be gradual so that his body has time to adapt and his joints can adjust. We must highlight the excellent work done with Guillaume Alquier, his physical trainer, because the weight gain was done intelligently."

Pierre-Yves Couve, Wembanyama's physiotherapist for France's U16 team, suggests the Spurs' star's weight gain is not so surprising. He also mentioned that he still has some distance to cover to match some of the true heavyweights of basketball's top division.

"In photos, it doesn't shock me," he said. "I don't think he's become a giant either, which is very good. We mustn't forget that with physiological evolution, we start by growing taller; that's why we're all a bit thin before broadening between ages 20 and 30. So it doesn't shock me. At 106kg for 2.22m, he's still below many other players."

Couve shared fond memories of a young athlete who "struggled to reach 80kg for 2.20m" from his tenure as a physio for France's youth squad, while San Antonio's trainer Guillaume Alquier put it clearly: "The priority is strength in the lower body, so that he is powerful enough to be able to absorb and link contact, and to run with his feet low on the ground."

Still, Couve warned over the dangers of excessive bulking up: "11kg isn't a problem. But if you put 15kg back on him next year, I'll be a bit more worried. Because after a while, there's bound to be some bad fat, not just muscle."

Meanwhile, Lacroix spoke on the complexities of nurturing a standout player like Wemby. He noted the potential for further weight gain, suggesting that "Is it still possible to gain weight next year? Yes, of course, it's possible. It's not out of the question that it could be part of Spurs' strategy as long as all the indicators are green.

"He's performing well, he's not injured much, he's making progress, he's stabilising his weight. All the indicators are green. After that, it's impossible to know how high his weight needs to go. There's no such thing as a player like Victor, so I don't have anything to compare him with."