Star-studded crowd watches French phenom Victor Wembanyama turn it on late, hours before NBA draft lottery

PARIS: Hours before finding out his likely destination in the NBA, Victor Wembanyama drew a star-studded crowd in his last regular-season game in France and delivered another game-winning performance in the fourth quarter.

Soccer star Kylian Mbappe and popular French actor Omar Sy were both on hand to watch Wembanyama put up 22 points as his Boulogne-Levallois side won 93-85 in a local derby against Paris Basketball. The 19-year-old French phenom — and much of the basketball world — then turned their attention to the NBA draft lottery in Chicago later Tuesday. The winning team is all but certain to make Wembanyama the No. 1 pick in the draft in June.

Wembanyama showed a glimpse of why as he scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, with the crowd of about 4,000 chanting “Wemby, Wemby” as he turned it on late after a slow start.

“He seemed elsewhere early on, probably at the lottery,” Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet said. “But he responded so well. ... He’s 19 and his life is going to totally change. Can you understand that? Tonight is a massive moment in his career. It’s totally understandable that things were going on in his head.”

Wembanyama treated the crowd to a late one-handed dunk, then tapped his own head repeatedly in appreciation.

One fan responded by bowing with his hands held out when another two-handed dunk with just six seconds left made the teenager the game’s top scorer.

Wemby clenched his fist and let out a yell at the final buzzer and then hugged his teammates as the crowd rose to gave the French league’s leading scorer a standing ovation at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan.

The 7-foot-3 Wembanyama then did a lap of honor high-fiving fans — or low-fiving, really, given