One of the most common refrains at media day is a player talking about how they’ve lost weight and gained muscle, with the phrase “in the best shape of my/his life” as a free space on the media day bingo board.
What we hear less of is players gaining height, but that does happen from time to time with young players who are still growing. In rather terrifying news for the rest of the NBA, that appears to have happened with Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, as the 21-year-old All-Star is now listed by the team at 7-feet-4 after spending last season listed at 7-3, per Michael Wright of ESPN.
Wembanyama already towered over the opposition, but the young Frenchman is apparently still getting taller and will have an extra inch of height for opponents to deal with when trying to score on the Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner, who is a -185 favorite for the award on FanDuel.
If Wembanyama is indeed listed at 7-4, he would join Memphis Grizzlies center Zach Edey (unless he also grew) as the tallest active players in the NBA.
NBA’s tallest players (2024-25)
Wembanyama isn’t alone in his summer growth spurt, as Dallas Mavericks big man Dereck Lively II also said on Monday that he’s grown an inch or two this summer and is now 7-2 or 7-3, proving that everything really is bigger in Texas.
On top of his growth spurt, Wembanyama spent the summer trying to bulk up in the more traditional sense for a young NBA athlete, trying to add some weight to his slender frame.
“I’ve been eating a lot. But I don’t think feel like I’ll be obese anytime soon,” Wembanyama joked.
After being shut down a year ago with a blood clot in his shoulder, Wembanyama has been cleared by the Spurs’ medical team and the NBA to return to the floor and continue his ascent to superstardom. He’ll hope his growth in both the literal and figurative sense can help the Spurs take the next step as a team to become a playoff contender in the loaded Western Conference.