Victor Wembanyama sets course to become a basketball billionaire unlike any other

Rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama could become the first professional basketball player to earn $1 billion on the court.

The 7-foot 4-inch (224-centimeter) tall French phenom, who turned 20 on Thursday, was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the top pick in the 2023 National Basketball Association draft. The team signed him to a four-year, $55.2 million rookie contract, the largest possible deal under the U.S. league’s current labor agreement.

The pact represents a first step toward what could be a historically lucrative playing career. While several well-known basketball players have become rich with help from endorsement deals and other business ventures, Wembanyama, who grew up in the Paris suburb of Le Chesnay, stands to enter the ranks of the ultrawealthy purely by lacing up his sneakers and stepping onto the hardwood night in and night out.

Under the NBA’s current contract limits, Wembanyama could amass more than $1 billion in basketball earnings by the age of 33. After his rookie deal ends, he could be eligible for a five-year rookie max extension deal that would pay him $316 million. Then, if he continues to shine on the court and remains healthy, he could be in line for a so-called supermax contract worth approximately $529 million over five years. That would bring his career earnings to just over $900 million.

A second supermax deal could then put the young star over the billion-dollar hump in its first year. Such a pact could be worth $760 million over five years, according to Bloomberg estimates.

“It’s not something I’ve thought about before,” Wembanyama said in an interview. “It widens the range of possibilities and impact I can have.”

Known to fans as “Wemby,” Wembanyama entered the NBA with a level of buzz unlike any player since LeBron James, who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers 20 years earlier. His scoring prowess recalls perennial All-Star Kevin Durant, and his 8-foot wingspan could make him into a defensive standout similar to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert.

Few other sports stars have attained billionaire status without help from businesses beyond the field.

Soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo has earned more than $1 billion, Forbes has tabulated, from playing for clubs in England, Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia. Shohei Ohtani, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last month for $700 million over 10 years in the richest single contract in any professional sport, could come close to pulling in $1 billion during his playing career.

James, 39, is the NBA’s highest-paid player ever, earning $479 million from basketball contracts. Forbes estimated that the Lakers star’s fortune crossed the ten-figure threshold last summer, helped by successful ventures like the SpringHill Company, an entertainment firm that reached a $750 million valuation in 2021; a deal with Nike worth more than $1 billion; and an ownership stake in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club.

NBA legend Michael Jordan reached billionaire status in 2014 and is now worth an estimated $3.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While Jordan, who retired from the NBA in 2003, earned $94 million as a player, he raked in multiples of that from his sale of the Charlotte Hornets, a groundbreaking sneaker deal with Nike, and endorsement pacts with McDonald’s, Gatorade and Hanes.

Wembanyama has indicated that he doesn’t want to mimic his predecessors. So far, he has favored smaller deals he sees as more closely aligned with his personal values.

“I would rather do nothing than to do something meaningless,” he said.

Going global

Wembanyama’s value extends to helping the NBA expand abroad. The league has been working — and struggling — to increase its international audience for years. Players such as China-born center Yao Ming, drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2002, helped briefly boost its popularity in Asia. The league has hosted regular-season games in Mexico and Europe; the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers will play in Paris this month.

At the same time, more top talent is coming from outside the U.S. Wembanyama was one of four French players taken in the 2023 draft. In each of the past five seasons, the league’s Most Valuable Player award has been won by a player born overseas. Still, the NBA has yet to grab the attention of global viewers compared with competitions like the Premier League, the U.K. football juggernaut.

Wembanyama’s rise to fame coincides with this summer’s Olympic Games — one of the world’s biggest sporting events — in Paris. Wembanyama will be a host-team star, potentially stoking new interest in the NBA. Basketball culture “is not as deep in France,” he says, but “growing the game at home is one of my priorities in the far future.”

A bigger global footprint could allow the NBA to command bigger TV deals, and players would likely seek a greater share of those rewards. The NBA’s current media deal, worth $24 billion, will expire after the 2024-2025 season. Its next deal could reach between $70 and $80 billion. The current collective bargaining agreement, meanwhile, will run out in 2030, with the option for either side to opt out after the 2028-2029 season.

TV networks expect Wembanyama to draw viewers. The Spurs are scheduled to play a total of 19 nationally televised games this year, despite being near the bottom of the league standings. Wembanyama is key to the franchise’s plans to return to championship form — it last won a title in 2014.

While Wembanyama is near certain to be a boost to the NBA, it’s less clear how much he’s going to be an asset to brands normally associated with sports stars.

Many basketball players supplement their income with sneaker contracts and endorsements of sports drinks. Fast-food restaurants, video game-makers, insurers and technology giants have also signed up NBA players as pitch men. Young players like Wembanyama, however, who are more conscious of their personal brand and are earning more from playing than previous generations, are becoming more selective.

“Thirty years ago, players would take anything from anyone because it was available and the salaries were lower,” according to Mark Patricof, the founder of Patricof, an athlete investment and advisory platform. Athletes now “have a much broader world view.”

Case in point is Wembanyama’s deal with Barcode, the maker of a plant-based drink founded by Mubarak “Bar” Malik and Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma. Instead of offering a big payday up front, Barcode won over Wembanyama by giving him an opportunity to invest.

“I knew monetarily we couldn’t compete with the offers from the big brands in the short term,” Malik said in a Zoom interview. “Longevity wise, with what we have planned there is going be an opportunity for him to own a significant amount of the company and make a lot of money if we do things the right way.”

Malik connected with Wembanyama through an investor in Paris, and flew to the French capital and met the player’s family. When he arrived, Wembanyama’s mother, a nutritionist and massage therapist, was excited to see that the vitamins she gave her son as a child were in the drink, Malik said.

Wembanyama had lucrative offers from competing sports drinks Gatorade and BodyArmor, according to people familiar with the matter, but the Frenchman said Barcode was more in step with his priorities. The size of his stake hasn’t been disclosed.

“Partnering with a brand that wouldn’t have been healthy and I wouldn’t drink would be inauthentic,” Wembanyama said. “That would be me losing my identity.”

Still, there are some endorsements where Wembanyama will follow in the footsteps of stars like Jordan and James. He has been connected with Nike since turning pro in France when he was 15, and hopes to have his own shoe.

“I want mine to look light and align with my game,” Wembanyama said. “It has to be flexible so people can move quick.”

Water goals

Wembanyama said he hopes to put some of his earnings to work increasing access to water in places where it has become scarce. A report in October said that 3.6 billion people have inadequate access to water at least one month every year. The World Meteorological Organization expects that number to top 5 billion by 2050.

“The thing humans need the most in life is water,” said Wembanyama. “A big part of the world population in third world countries do not have access to clean water.”

The most water-stressed regions of the world are in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. The World Resources Institute says there are 25 countries, accounting for a quarter of the global population, that are exposed to extremely high water stress.

Wembanyama said he sees putting his money behind such causes as another way to shape his identity.

“Everyone is looking for that big opportunity in business,” he said, “but really I’m still looking to find myself.”