Imago
Jan 15, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward/center Victor Wembanyama (1) after the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
Imago
Jan 15, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward/center Victor Wembanyama (1) after the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
Victor Wembanyama‘s latest social media post immediately grabbed the attention of the basketball world. It was about Elijah Hoard, a fellow basketball player. In a public plea, the San Antonio Spurs star urged fans and everyone across Chicago to help find his friend, who had gone missing after being dropped off at O’Hare International Airport, tagging Chicago Bulls veterans Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard.
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Who is Elijah Hoard? Is he the brother of Jaylen Hoard? Everything to know
Elijah Hoard is a 23-year-old basketball player who lives in France. He is 6-foot-3 tall and weighs 220 pounds. Hoard is a former member of LDLC-ASVEL Villeurbanne’s academy and continued playing in the lower leagues. The youngster was in the United States to visit his father, Antwon, in Chicago. He stayed with his dad for 10 days and was scheduled to fly back to France.
Elijah is the younger brother of former NBA player Jaylen Hoard, currently playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He had stints with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2019 to 2022.
The Hoard brothers hail from a basketball family. Their father played for Murray State and continued to play professionally for over a decade. Their mother, Katia Foucade Hoard, played for Washington and later returned home, representing France at the 1994 FIBA World Championships and playing professionally there for the remainder of her career.
What happened to Elijah? Why is Victor Wembanyama worried?
Antwon dropped his son off at the O’Hare International Airport on Friday to return home to France. However, Elijah “never took the flight his bags weren’t registered, and he never checked in.”
“So what we’re thinking is he could possibly be floating around the airport or something, but again, that’s the last we’ve seen of him,” Antwon told ABC 7. “Everything seemed pretty normal the first eight days, but the last two days his whole mood had swung, and he was really adamant about not going back home, and he didn’t want to go home.”
Antwon also said that his son suffered from a mental illness.
While the Chicago police have officially reported him missing and are reviewing surveillance footage around the airport, Wembanyama and other French players, like Nicolas Batum and Guerschon Yabusele, have taken to social media to spread the message to as many people as possible.
“Our friend Elijah Hoard has been missing from Chicago O’Hare since February 27th,” Wembanyama wrote on his Instagram story. “If you have any information please reach out to local authorities.”
“Elijah Hoard has been missing after being dropped by his father at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Friday. If you have any information, please contact the local authorities,” Batum tweeted.
“Elijah Hoard has been missing since Friday evening in Chicago. He was supposed to catch a flight to France but never boarded. If you have any information, please notify his family or detectives at Area One SVU at 312-747-8380. Thank you,” Yabusele wrote.
According to Antwon, his son’s cellphone has been unreachable since Friday evening. He added that Elijah didn’t have enough money to sustain himself for more than a few days. The last time his father saw him, he was in a brown hoodie, black sweatpants, and cream-colored shoes.