Victor Wembanyama hopes to learn from Kevin Durant

From idol to student, both Durant and Wemby have nothing but kind words about each other.

Victor Wembayanma has always made it clear that he idolizes and models his game after Kevin Durant. Both are long, slender, and smooth players for their height, and even though Wemby already has at least 5 inches (and possibly counting) on his idol, it’s easy to see why he would want to model his game after the Slim Reaper, especially on offense.

Wemby got an early chance to match up against Durant in two thrilling, upset victories against the Phoenix Suns in the first week of his rookie season, but their most recent match-up didn’t go was well. Mostly thanks to late shooting heroics from Steph Curry, France was unable to stun the United States in the gold medal game despite a stellar performance from Wemby, who could be seen getting consoled by none other than Durant afterwards.

Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images

In a recent interview with M6 Info, Wemby explained what was said.

Clearly this is my personal childhood favorite. He become my favorite player, and here it is. There was this classic one-on-one moment for encouragement and congratulations for each other, and I made it clear to him that I wanted to learn from him and perhaps only steal one or two of his secret techniques.

Clearly the two respect each other, and Durant has always had nothing but good things to say about Wemby in return. Back during the All-Star break, when asked what Wemby’s potential is, Durant responded that he has the ability to achieve anything he wants and admitted he’s happy he’s nearing retirement so he doesn’t have to deal with whatever peak Wemby will look like.

At 35 and relatively healthy, Durant probably has a few more years left in the tank, which will give Wemby even more time to play against him, study, learn and grow. He still has plenty of ways he can improve, especially on offense, and it’s hard to imagine a better modern-day superstar for him to model his game after. And who knows? They might even get some practice time together if not this offseason, then perhaps next year when international ball will be on hiatus (at least for the A teams).