Something shifted in Victor Wembanyama this summer. The 21-year-old poster boy, fresh off an injury-shortened 2024-25 season, has carried himself like a leader, plotting an NBA-headline takeover. Wemby hustled across the offseason, trying out-of-the-box training methods like kung-fu. He personally decided to train with the best in the sport. Why is the Frenchman this ultra-focused? What’s the aim? We barely saw a reaction on his face for weeks. BUT a wide smirk was evident when his fans in Freeman Expo Hall chanted “Wem-V-P” recently.

Former Spurs video coordinator Mo Dakhil spoke about the youngster’s recent drive on the Zach Lowe Show. “Wemby wants it. Wemby is hungry for it. I don’t even want to say hungry – angry for it. Like he is like demanding in a way of like this is what he wants,” he said.

Dakhil recalled offseason stories that’ve become part of the Frenchman’s lore – training with Shaolin Monks and spending hours with legends like Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon, mentally and physically sharpening himself. The youngster also trained with Rashard Lewis, an individual who has quietly mentored Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard, among many other notable names behind the scenes.

“Like the conversation where, ‘You already have everything,’ he’s like, ‘No, I need to know everything.’ Like that kind of desire and hunger that propels you in a certain way, where I think it puts him in the conversation now,” Dakhil elaborated.

“I’m putting it out there. He’s going to, I think, he’s going to get a quadruple double. We’ve only had four in the NBA. I think he’s going to get one and make it five. And I think he’s going to have more than one through the course of his career,” the former Spurs staff member boldly predicted.

Dakhil was spot on with his facts. David Robinson (1994), Hakeem Olajuwon (1990), Alvin Robertson (1986), and Nate Thurmond (1974) are the only four players to bag a quadruple-double. Interestingly, though, if Victor Wembanyama were to crack this, he’d be the third Spurs name on this list! You know how rare and special the list is if it doesn’t include the usual suspects like Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

“He wants it so damn bad. You can feel it in everything he’s doing things, in the way he trained, and everything that he’s done this offseason,” Dakhil concluded.

The chatter surrounding his offseason routine has resulted in Wemby entering his third NBA season with immense expectations. He is clearly a legend in the making who understands the rarity of this opportunity and refuses to let it slip, especially after the results of a recent GM survey.

Victor Wembanyama’s ‘Elite’ Crown Kept On Hold by the Decision-Makers

In the recently released 2025-26 GM Survey, an exercise conducted at the beginning of every season, by writer John Schuhmann, Victor Wembanyama is being recognized and yet questioned…

On the one hand, he was overwhelmingly voted the best Defensive Player in the league (80%) and the Top Choice to start a franchise with (83%), ahead of superstars like Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander!

This kind of confidence from front offices is extremely rare for such a young player, just entering his third year, and is a testament to the significant increase in skill he demonstrated during his second season. But the praise came with an asterisk.

When asked who the best Center in the league was, nearly every single executive, an astounding 97%, sided with Jokic, leaving the Spurs center with just 3% of the votes. This means that if all 30 GMs voted, only one chose Wemby…

It’s an odd paradox: league-wide, Victor Wembanyama is seen as the future, but, for some reason, not the present. Still, this survey might just be what fuels him for the season ahead. His offseason routine suggests a player aware of how close he is to bridging the gap.

Interestingly, 67% voted Jokic as the next Kia MVP, 10% said Doncic, 8% for SGA, and 7% for Wemby. Expect these votes for the Frenchman to increase consistently across the next 2 years. I’m saying this because he’s been focusing on some really underrated skills over the last few weeks. Endurance, hand-eye coordination, footwork and post moves, ball handling, and so much more.

Victor Wembanyama spoke about his regimen during Media Day, saying, “This summer, I chose to do something much more violent. Maybe that takes away from some time I can spend on shooting the basketball, but it doesn’t matter. I wanted to get my body back.” Now that his body is back at full strength, I don’t think any force or anyone out there can stop young Wemby.