Inside The Spurs

Devin Booker Makes Bold Victor Wembanyama Statement

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker is a fan of Victor Wembanyama's personalized Nike logo

Matt Guzman

Dec 3, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) against the Phoenix Suns during an NBA Cup game at Footprint Center.
Dec 3, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) against the Phoenix Suns during an NBA Cup game at Footprint Center. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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SAN ANTONIO — It wasn't long before Nike found a way to market perhaps their biggest up-and-coming superstar athlete.

After all, Victor Wembanyama had been called a lot of things as he prepared to enter the NBA. It was ultimately LeBron James whose moniker stuck.

”We’re labeling like this unicorn thing," James said of Wembanyama prior to the 2023 NBA Draft. "Everybody’s been a unicorn over the last few years. But he’s more like an alien. No one has seen anyone as tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful as he is on the floor.”

Turns out, Wembanyama liked the nod as well.

"I hated when people would call me a unicorn," the then-19-year-old said. "I'd much rather have people call me an alien ... Unicorn isn't really original."

Once Nike decided to roll with "The Alien," Wembanyama got a signature shoe and a personalized logo blending an Alien's face with a basketball. Devin Booker took a few minutes to praise it Wednesday afternoon.

"Wemby('s) got the best logo in sports," he wrote on his Instagram story.

Booker faced Wembanyama once this season in December. That game, the Spurs' superstar put up 15 points and 13 rebounds, but Phoenix earned the Group Play win behind Booker's 29 points. The second scheduled contest ended up being the day Wembanyama was ruled out for the season with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.

To Booker, that didn't change the outlook of Wembanyama's bright future.

Or how unique his logo is.

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Matt Guzman
MATT GUZMAN

Matt Guzman is a sports journalist and storyteller from Austin, Texas. He serves as a credentialed reporter and site manager for San Antonio Spurs On SI and a staff writer for multiple collegiate sites in the same network. In the world of professional sports, he is a firm believer that athletes are people, too, and intends to tell stories of players and teams’ true, behind-the-scenes character that otherwise would not be seen through strong narrative writing, hooking ledes and passionate words.

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