Inside the Shaolin monastery that helped build Victor Wembanyama - ESPN

MASTER YAN'AN HAS trained at the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China since he was 6 years old. He has climbed the roughly 1,500 stone steps up Wuru Peak to the Bodhidharma Cave thousands of times. None of the steps is the same size or height. Some are narrow; some are tall. During the day, tourists who visit the temple usually take one to two hours to reach the peak. It is not advised to climb at night. There are no lights along the trail, and one wrong step could send a hiker tumbling down the steep staircase.

But Master Yan'an had an unusual student last summer. San Antonio Spurs All-NBA center Victor Wembanyama was looking for a challenge that would test him in ways he'd never been tested before. He wanted to build his inner strength alongside his already prodigious physical strength.

His goals, he said, transcended mere athletic glory.

«I told him: You play basketball, and I do kung fu. If you want to be great, you have to do things that other people can't do,» Master Yan'an told ESPN. «There are two parts to climbing the mountain. The daytime is for your body. Your endurance, your strength. The nighttime is for your mind. Your awareness.»

Wembanyama understood.

After darkness fell on the sixth night of his retreat at the Shaolin Temple last summer, he joined Master Yan'an and a group of monks for a hike to the Bodhidharma Cave.

«There were no lights anywhere,» Master Yan'an said. «You can't see anything. The only way to go is step by step. Listen to your breath and listen to your heart. Feel each step with your foot. Use your awareness.»

Two staffers from San Antonio who had accompanied Wembanyama expressed their reservations. Master Yan'an worried, too. He'd been entrusted to train a global icon, a