With the number of foreign players in the NBA, one would think they would have gotten used to difficult surnames. But that is not the case. With fans quick to pick up on irregularities, the spelling mistake on the jersey of Spurs’ rookie star Victor Wembanyama went viral immediately.

Instead of the ‘M’, his jersey had an ‘N’. The result was ‘Wembanyana’, instead of the correct form, Wembanyama. Talking about the typo, the 7-foot young big man had some words for the management.

Victor Wembanyama calls it “a real shame”

Malika Andrews posted that Wembanyama had no clue about the situation until someone pointed it out. Wembanyama reportedly added, “It’s a real shame.”

The 10-letter surname was a tough one for many initially. To handle that, everyone got comfortable with the shortened form, “Wemby”. Even if people outside the NBA got his name wrong, it would have been dismissed as ignorance. But for the management who drafted him to get the name wrong on his jersey is humiliating.

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We can understand why Victor would feel disappointed. But looking at the bigger picture, it did not really affect the Spurs game, nor did Wemby have a bad night. Emotionally, it may have hurt the 19-year-old. But in the long run, this would be just another joke to reminisce on a winter night.

On that note, let’s look at the toughest names to spell and pronounce in the NBA?

Hard-to-pronounce names of the league

Before Wembanyama made an appearance, everyone was talking about how Giannis Antetokounmpo had a unique name. But if we were to look at some of the names of the international players, Wemby and Giannis’s names would seem like a breeze.

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Here is a list of the names that are not only unique but probably ones that we have been pronouncing wrong:

1. Donatas Motiejūnas (Don-ah-tas Muh-ti-junas)
2. Jonas Valančiūnas (Yo-nuhs Va-lan-chew-nuhs)
3. Andrea Bargnani (Anth-reya Bar-nyani)
4. Amar’e Carsares Jehoshaphat Stoudemire (Ah-mar-ay Stod-uh-myre)
5. Dennis Mike Schröder (Den-nus Shro-duhr)
6. Thabo Patrick Sefolosha (Tah-bow Sef-a-low-shuh)
7. Nemanja Bjelica (Ne-men-yah Bee-a-litz-ah)
8. Walter Robert “Wally” Szczerbiak Jr (Sur-bee-ak)
9. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (Luke Richard Bah ah Moo-tay)
10. Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (Yor-gay Mure-shan)

And now for the cherry on top. A 27-year-old Chinese basketball player, currently playing for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers – Abudushalamu Abudurexiti. He was invited in 2018 to work out with the NBA before the draft began. Though he went undrafted, the Warriors offered him a chance to play in the Summer League Squad.

Apparently, the number of letters might scare anyone from even giving it a try, his name isn’t all that hard. As the man in question shows us the correct usage.

Victor Wembanyama doesn’t seem all that bad now, does it? Do you know of any basketball names that are equally hard to pronounce? Let us know in the comments below!

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