Boston Celtics reporter implies LeBron James knew Victor Wembanyama would be a bust

Boston Celtics reporter Jay King of The Athletic believes LeBron James knew Victor Wembanyama would be a bust at the NBA level, and thus, didn’t need to be present at the San Antonio Spurs rookie’s debut in the Las Vegas Summer League on July 7. James, as King pointed out, was at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, South Carolina.

“LeBron must have known the truth about Victor Wembanyama,” King prefaced before saying, “It’s telling he was at Peach Jam watching Cooper Flagg today instead. The real hoopers always know.”

Flagg amassed 38 points, six rebounds, 11 blocks and six assists on 14/24 shooting against a Proskills team full of legitimate Division-I prospects per Rivals Basketball Recruiting Director Rob Cassidy. According to Cassidy, Flagg is a Duke lean who could reclassify to the 2024 high school class, and “while his recruitment is not over by any means, it may take a herculean effort to wrestle the five-star way from Duke down the stretch.”

Boston Celtics reporter Jay King was, like many, unimpressed with Victor Wembanyama’s debut

King claiming that LeBron knew that Wembanyama was a bust wasn’t even the first shot the Boston Celtics reporter took at the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft after a poor shooting night from the Frenchman. Prior to that, he made a brutal comparison that was quite different from what pundits were projecting before the draft.

“They compared Wembanyama to Kareem and LeBron but really he’s just Rudy Gobert with a green light,” King tweeted.

Wembanyama showed that he is going to be a project for the Spurs, but it’s possible he never pans out; even under the wing of San Antonio coaching legend Gregg Popovich. A player of his size has never panned out as a star — though to be fair, such players are few and far between — but Kristaps Porzingis is the closest thing. Worst-case scenarios would include similar trajectories to the likes of Bol Bol, Tacko Fall, and Shawn Bradley.

Most would likely lean towards the latter after Wembanyama’s Summer League debut.