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There was little doubt Victor Wembanyama was going to be the first overall pick in the NBA Draft before the previous season even started. The 7’4″ Frenchman who was viewed as a generational talent has already lived up to the hype—and one person who dropped a fortune on the first jersey he rocked in an NBA game is undoubtedly hoping his legend will only continue to grow.
You don’t need to be a basketball genius to understand why Victor Wembanyama generated an insane amount of attention in the lead-up to the most recent draft, as his physical appearance alone really tells you all that you need to know.
The man known as “Wemby” routinely dominated the competition while playing in Europe, and while there was obviously a learning curve that came with making the leap to the NBA, the 19-year-old has settled in pretty well since making his debut with the San Antonio Spurs.
As things currently stand, Wembanyama is averaging 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game, and he’s currently the favorite to take home Rookie of the Year honors when his inaugural campaign wraps up (although Chet Holgrem is doing what he can to give him a run for his money).
There’s little doubt the big man has an illustrious career ahead of him, so it’s only natural that the jersey he rocked when he faced off against the Mavericks on October 25th to officially kick off his time in the NBA would be a highly sought-after item.
According to ESPN, that piece of apparel was expected to fetch between $80,000 and $120,000 when it went up for auction at Sotheby’s on Tuesday night, and it blew those estimates out of the water before ultimately fetching a grand total of $762,000.
The outlet reports that’s the highest sum a jersey from a rookie debut has garnered during an initial sale (Kobe Bryant’s sold for $3.69 million in 2021, while the record for any NBA jersey is the $10.1 million that was forked over to acquire the one Michael Jordan wore during the first game of the NBA Finals in 1998).
$762K is certainly not a tiny number, but it also seems like a pretty solid investment based on what we can probably expect from Wembanyama going forward.