Victor Wembanyama has named two active NBA greats as the players he looks up to, and to most people’s surprise – LeBron James is not one of them.

LeBron James is widely regarded as one of the best players in the game right now, and he also has a strong argument to be named one of the greatest to ever step on a basketball court. Over a career spanning two decades, LeBron has cemented his legacy with a list of career accolades – four NBA Championships and four MVP awards – that most players dream to have.

Therefore, it is only natural when aspiring basketball players from the next generation idolize the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and aim to have a career like his. However, it turns out that the next big thing in the NBA is not one of them – after Victor Wembanyama, the bookies’ favorite for the first overall pick in the forthcoming NBA Draft – left LeBron out of his list of idols.

Wembanyama, an 18-year-old standing at 7’4” made a name for himself through a string of performances against the NBA G-League’s Ignite that has made him the favourite to be named as the first overall pick in the Draft. So when the Frenchman joined the ESPN broadcast booth during the Lakers vs Minnesota Timberwolves game, he was faced with plenty of questions.

Love Victor Wembanyama joining the @espn broadcast booth during this Lakers-Wolves preseason game. Incredibly thoughtful — particularly when talking about his shot mechanics.

Adds: “I want to be like no one else. But the players I look up to most are Giannis and KD.”

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) October 7, 2022

One of the questions he faced was that who are the two active NBA players that Wembanyama looks up to and models his game on – and to be fair, NBA Twitter did not expect his answers.

Who did Wembanyama name as the two active NBA greats he looks up to?

Though Wembanyama left LeBron out, he named two other modern greats.

When asked by Mallika Andrews of ESPN about who he looks up to and models his game on, Wembanyama mentioned two modern NBA greats in Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets. Wembanyama added: “I want to be like no one else. But the players I look up to most are Giannis and KD.”

We can already see a few shades of Giannis and KD is the raw yet precocious talent that Wembanyama has showed so far.

More News:

• • “He’s more like an alien” – LeBron James heaps tons of praise on “generational talent” Victor Wembanyama
• • “The NBA is not about skills” – Giannis Antetokounmpo brings up Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James over what makes a player great
• • Kevin Durant believes he is a “legend” and isn’t taking any flak from the fans