Inside Victor Wembanyama's summer of transformation - ESPN

Editor's note: This story was originally published on Oct. 8.

INSIDE A QUIET gym located on a sprawling 400-acre ranch in Katy, Texas, some 30 miles due west of Houston, Victor Wembanyama backed down new San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Rashard Lewis near the basket.

The 21-year-old pupil was there to attend one of the most secretive, legendary big man camps in basketball — one whose teacher has quietly mentored Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Dwight Howard and many others. Even Kobe Bryant spent time on this most hallowed of grounds.

Other Spurs assistants, Matt Nielsen and Sean Sweeney, looked toward the court, where the future of NBA big men was learning from one of the icons of its past.

The court, painted in Houston Rockets red, was emblazoned with a No. 34 at the center of it. Above it was his famed nickname in cursive.

Dream.

Wembanyama met the 62-year-old Hakeem Olajuwon in April at the NCAA men's college national championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio. They sat courtside.

«He said he would love to work out with me,» Olajuwon, whose Hall of Fame NBA career included two championships, 12 All-Star appearances and an MVP award, told ESPN. «I said, 'You've got everything already.' He said, 'No, no, no. I've watched you play, and I'd like to know now just the secrets behind all the moves. I would love that.'»

And so began a relationship that would cap a summer of transformation for Wembanyama.

Six months earlier, he had been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, a condition both career- and life-threatening.

The ordeal, one source close to him says, deeply affected the 2023-24 NBA Rookie of the Year, so much so that it inspired «a journey to push himself to be great physically