IT'S NOT NICE TO LAUGH, but some sins must be forgiven. A forward for the Memphis Grizzlies is denied mid layup. A point guard for the Atlanta Hawks has a mid-range shot returned to sender. A shooting guard for the Charlotte Hornets attempts a jumper and is burgled, the ball intercepted before it even takes flight.

The ordinary term for what has befallen these men—a fate dealt coldly by NBA star Victor Wembanyama, the 22-year-old, 7ft 4in (2.24m) centre for the San Antonio Spurs, captured in widely disseminated videos—is a “block”. But that word is unequal to the task. Wembanyama, with an unusually extensive, eight-foot wingspan and fingers the length of cigars, does not so much block these shots as negate them, absorbing their momentum the way a black hole absorbs light. Although the shooter jumps, or tries to, Wembanyama, astoundingly, never leaves his feet. He remains stationary, manifestly casual, collecting the ball as if to fill his trolley at Costco.

The comedy of these moments is not just the insult. The victims engender our sympathy. When we watch their doomed efforts, we laugh at our own frailty as much as theirs, our own hubris in the face of life's punishing odds.

What is it like to be the instrument of those odds, the reaper in whose shadow mere mortals fear and tremble? For Wembanyama, bliss. “It feels like ruining someone's day,” he says, with an impish grin, when I ask him what it feels like to block a shot. "Sometimes it's funny, because it's like, 'Why did they even try?””

Wembanyama, whom the Spurs selected as the No.1 draft pick in 2023 and who went on to be named Rookie of the Year in a rare, unanimous vote, has led the league in blocks in each of the past three seasons. In December, he became only the third player in history to record at least one block in 100 consecutive games, joining the legendary big men Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo.

Miraculously, for a player with his centre of gravity, Wembanyama is also an agile ball-handler and a strong shooter (averaging 24 points per game this season), putting him in a class with long-limbed assassins like Kevin Durant and—Wembanyama's forebear in San Antonio—Tim Duncan, despite being five inches taller than both of them. His unique mix of assets has led many to declare him one of the greatest NBA prospects of all time.

Standing in front of Wembanyama at a warehouse in San Antonio for the LOVE cover shoot, I found it hard to imagine getting a clear look at the basket in a matchup against him, let alone scoring a point. He is a walking eclipse, a muse for myths and parables. "The Alien", one of his nicknames, is unfairly dehumanising, and yet to see him among the averagely proportioned is to contemplate an addendum to the evolution of man.

Being out of scale with the built environment does have its downsides. "Nothing is designed for me,” Wembanyama says. "It makes every little thing harder, and harder on the body as well.”

He most laments his inability to drive a normal-sized car, although, as a teenager, he squeezed himself into a Nissan 350Z with the seat pushed back. Excepting underwear, virtually all of his clothing must be custom-made.

It's tempting to assume that Wembanyama's dominance as a shot-blocker is a mere byproduct of his genetics. But, refreshingly, he acquired this skill through more pedestrian means: hard work and a burning desire to silence his haters.

As an early teenager playing regional basketball in his native France, Wembanyama developed a reputation for neglecting to play defence, he says, with critics accusing him of an overemphasis on scoring. Like an infamously competitive hoop god before him, Wembanyama took those charges personally. “That hurt my ego a lot,” he says. “I felt like I had to earn [my place]."

By the time he was 15, making his debut for the French youth national team in the FIBA U16 European Championship, Wembanyama was averaging five blocks a game, enough to rank him No. 1 in the tournament in that category.

His drive for greatness hit its first major roadblock in February last year, when a deep-vein thrombosis—a kind of blood clot that can be life-threatening if untreated—was discovered in his right shoulder. The diagnosis required months of treatment and rehab, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the season.

"When I first learned the news, I broke down," he says. "I didn't know how long I was going to be out for. For a while, I allowed myself to feel totally vulnerable and defenceless. But then I pivoted my mind and started looking at it as a challenge. If this is my lottery ticket in life, I'm going to do everything that I can to get the most out of it.”

Wembanyama recruited an all-star team of experts—trainers, physical therapists, doctors, surgeons, and sports scientists—and maintained an exacting regimen. After receiving a clean bill of health last spring, he supplemented his recovery with a 10-day trip to Zhengzhou, China—a long time dream—where he studied kung fu at a Shaolin monastery.

"It gave me a chance to experience things that I couldn't have if I was only training for basketball," Wembanyama says, sounding faintly wistful. “I ran in the mountains for hours until my feet hurt and practised a whole new range of movements, like lifting my foot above my head or jumping and kicking as hard as I could."

"It was perfect timing," he concludes. "Because of all the rehab and the long summer, I was able to force my body to overcompensate and do more things." Mortals, be forewarned.

Barber PIERRE MELVIN
Groomer CHELSEA PEREZ
Light Technician ROBERT AMADOR
Grip JOE REYNOLDS
Wardrobe Stylist JULIAN GANIO
Videographer NICK LLOYD
Producer UNIQUE JAMES at COMPOZITION
Production Manager ANGELICA RADACINSKI
Production Coordinator JESSICA LEWIS-HANSON
Production Assistant SARA RIOS
Post Production IMAGIN PRODUCTIONS

This story is taken from LOVE S/S 26 Issue, now available to pre-order at KD Presse.