Coulibaly on former teammate Wembanyama: “He knows what he wants”

Moving from Metropolitans 92 to the NBA together, Bilal Coulibaly and Victor Wembanyama went into similar situations, battling to overcome losing efforts from mostly enjoying wins in France’s Betclic Elite.

Coulibaly, 19, talked with Mark Medina and Sportskeeda about his former teammate.

“It was so cool to play with him. Even though it was for two minutes, it was good,” he commented on joining forces with Wemby in the 2024 Panini Rising Stars on Team Pau.

“At the beginning, we did. But now we’ve got a lot going on,” he replied about managing to stay in touch, “We don’t have the time like that. We have the jet lag and everything. But we’ve been texting each other.”

Limited to 56 appearances in the 2023-24 Regular Season by injuries, Coulibaly is averaging 8.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.8 blocks per contest with the Washington Wizards. Standing out with the San Antonio Spurs, Wembanyama is up to 20.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 3.3 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game.

“I knew he was going to be that good. He knows what he wants. He’s put in the work,” said Coulibaly, “I am not surprised about it.”

In a rewind to playing alongside the wunderkind in France, he shared more praise. “It was everything about being a pro on and off the court and knowing what you have to do to get your body right.” he described learning from Wembanyama.