Wembanyama's latest correction deals blow to eager Spurs fans

If the San Antonio Spurs are extremely lucky, they'll be preparing for the 2023 NBA season armed with a 7-2 do-it-all weapon by this time next year. Touted by many as one of the most intriguing draft prospects in NBA history, Victor Wembanyama could very well be the once-in-a-generation player a team needs to completely turn things around.

It certainly feels like the Spurs' front office at least partly had Wembanyama in mind when they traded away what many considered their centerpiece in June. Although recent events suggest San Antonio might have had a few other reasons to part with Dejounte Murray, there's no doubting that his absence will make this team considerably worse for the upcoming season.

All of the Spurs' recent moves, specifically trading Derrick White and Murray to secure numerous draft picks, point to a new direction of totally rebuilding in San Antonio. The grand prize will be the chance to select a talent such as Wembanyama, and a recent comment dug up on Spurs Twitter seemed to signal there could be some mutual interest.

"Victor Wembanyana" cites Tim Duncan in a question about his game

"Who [do] you model your game after?" asked a YouTube user in a Wembanyama video. "Tim Duncan," replied an account under his name.

I was skeptical about the above comment, but the fact that the YouTube channel appears to be verified made me lean toward it actually being true. Still, I held off on writing anything about it because it's hard to verify much on YouTube. It was a good thing I did, because not long after that tweet started to spread, Wembanyama himself cleared the air on Instagram.

"I don't have a YouTube channel," said his verified Instagram post. "Don't believe any channel saying they are official."

Just like that, Spurs fans were dealt a body blow. Nope, Victor didn't actually say he models his game after the Big Fundamental. That makes a lot of sense, though, when you consider the facts. Wembanyama wasn't even a teenager yet when Duncan won his final title in 2014, and his offensive skill set is very different.

Of course, this doesn't really have any real-life impact on San Antonio's chances of adding Victor to the team next year. If anything, they have an edge given the existing connections of Tony Parker, who was the owner of Victor's former team, and Boris Diaw, who is president of his current one.

Victor Watch will be a thing all season long, and the Spurs will likely be in the mix for him when next year's draft rolls around.