Standing at a whopping 7ft4, and moving more fluidly than most guards do, Victor Wembanyama is someone the likes of which we have never seen before. This has caused ‘The Alien’ to become a popular nickname for him within the NBA community. And as he revealed recently, not only was it LeBron James who came up with it, but it was also completely off-rip.
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Wembanyama recently sat down for an interview with HugoDecrypte, where they discussed this enigmatic nickname of his. Here, he revealed that, while many suspect James’s calling Wembanyama an alien during a 2022 interview was planned, there was no such ploy behind it. Wemby said,
“It’s when [2022] it was really popularized. It’s thanks to him [LeBron James]. And we, hadn’t discussed it beforehand… But in any case, I was pleased because it is hard to get rid of a nickname once we have it.”
During the same sit-down Victor Wembanyama also revealed that he was extremely fond of the nickname. To him, the word means ‘new’ and ‘unknown’, something the player most certainly is to the NBA.
Of course, some called him ‘Unicorn’ as well, a term commonly used to refer to tall players that could do everything a guard can. Unfortunately, because it is seen just about everywhere now, it has lost its original charm. Right after he was drafted, Wemby even admitted that he didn’t want the name, saying,
“That nickname [unicorn] has been used over and over, so I’m not really a big fan of it.”
Victor’s thoughts on being called a Unicorn are completely understandable. After all, a nickname should be unique, instead of one that refers to practically half the NBA.
In that sense, Alien does seem to suit him quite a bit better. And without wasting much time at all, it is a nickname that Nike seems to have run with.
Nike has made Victor Wembanyama’s brand ‘The Alien’
Nike must have been over the moon when LeBron called Wemby an alien. After all, the face of their brand practically handed them their marketing strategy for the next big thing in the NBA.
Fortunately for them, they were able to secure Wemby’s signature and put their marketing at play immediately. The company even put an alien logo on his GT Hustle sneakers that he wore during games. And now that the time has come to drop his signature sneaker, they seem to have gone all-in.
Nike released an advert to hype up what Wembanyama had done already in the NBA. Suffice it to say, it did a brilliant job in sticking to the Spurs rookie’s brand.
With the amount of anticipation this advert has created, Wemby’s signature sneakers are bound to be a massive hit. The player simply needs to keep up his incredible performances to keep the hype train going.
