Before Victor Wembanyama even entered the NBA, he was already on LeBron James' radar, and "The King's" prediction has already come true.
The San Antonio Spurs are preparing to take on the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of their Rodeo Road Trip on Tuesday night. The Spurs are 2-1 against the Lakers this season, and any time these two teams face off, it feels like a passing of the torch moment.
For more than 20 years, LeBron James has been the NBA's biggest star. However, the end of his career is coming closer, and the league is scrambling to find a new face. Luckily, Victor Wembanyama has met the pre-draft hype and stands to be the league's best player since James' prime, if not better.
Fans had been familiar with Wembanyama even before he was drafted in 2023, and James is no exception.
LeBron James Has Been a Wemby Fan for Years
Before Wembanyama entered the league, his eye-popping highlights from the French League took the world by storm, and the best players in the NBA knew it was only a matter of time before he arrived and took over.
"Everybody's been a unicorn over the last few years, but he's more like an alien," James said in 2022, before Wembanyama was drafted. "No one's ever seen anyone as tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful as he is on the floor. But you can tell he loves the game. He's smiling a lot."
James and Wembanyama have now played parts of three seasons against one another, and clashed in the gold medal game at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Both James and Wemby were named to the Olympic All-Star team, and the respect has only grown since then.
“I can’t play that much further," James said in 2025 over the offseason. "The more & more times that I play, as long as he keeps smacking my [bleeping] shots into the stands, it’s gonna make me retire.”
James is yet to announce any real retirement plans, although it's clear that he only has a season or two left in the tank. Still a great player, he's no longer the best in the world.
Wembanyama might not be there just yet, but it's safe to say that he's on the rise, ready to snatch the title away.