While Team USA is looking poised to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the host country’s team isn’t doing as well.
Team France finished 2-1 in group play after losing decisively to Germany 85-71.
Victor Wembanyama, France’s best player, had 14 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot, and had a message for his team afterward about trust, per Marc J. Spears.
“We got to trust our coaching more, trust our teammates more, do things that aren’t on the stat sheet,” the young star said.
“We got to trust our coaching more, trust our teammates more, do things that aren’t on the stat sheet,” France forward @wemby after loss to Germany.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) August 2, 2024
Wembanyama is coming off a rookie season when he took the NBA by storm and announced himself as the league’s newest superstar.
The San Antonio Spurs center averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a league-high 3.6 blocked shots per game, and he seemed to get better as the season wore on.
Team France also boasts Minnesota Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert, the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, as well as a few other legitimate NBA players in Evan Fournier, Frank Ntilikina and Nicolas Batum.
Some experts felt that France had at least a slim chance of upsetting Team USA come tournament time, mostly thanks to the towering presence of Wembanyama.
Germany, which has Dennis Schroder, Moritz Wagner, Franz Wagner and Daniel Theis, also has been discussed as another worthy challenger to the United States.
Though Team France had already clinched a spot in the quarterfinal round, it wanted to claim a better seed and thus potentially avoid a meeting with Team USA.
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Victor Wembanyama Is Leading The Olympics In 2 Stats