Victor Wembanyama Studying Kobe Bryant’s Mindset

Victor Wembanyama is already one of the most dominant young stars the NBA has ever seen at just 22 years old, but the scariest part for the rest of the league might be how obsessed he is with improving mentally, not just physically.

Wembanyama’s agent Bouna Ndiaye met with Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka last offseason to better understand the mindset and preparation habits that made Kobe Bryant one of basketball’s all-time greats.

“The reason was simple,” Ramona Shelburne wrote for ESPN.

“The way they think is different. The way they play, the way they stretch themselves. Just their curiosity. How they study and watch things. They’re both very creative on how to solve a problem.

“I wanted to understand how Kobe did things. So that we could learn from him. Victor is not like anybody else. We have to be creative to build programs that are unique to him.”

Shelburne detailed several stories Pelinka shared from his years representing Bryant, including one particularly wild example involving great white sharks.

“One summer Bryant had become obsessed with studying how great white sharks hunt and attack their prey. So it became Pelinka’s job to find him the best place in the world to do that — which is apparently Guadalupe, an island 150 miles off the coast of Baja, Mexico, where you can go cage diving in the crystal-clear waters,” Shelburne reported for ESPN. Bryant would later write in The Players’ Tribune in 2017 that his study of great whites helped him defend Allen Iverson.”

Pelinka also reportedly explained Bryant’s fascination with studying artists like Michelangelo and how Kobe constantly searched for ways to create something extraordinary under impossible circumstances.

That relentless curiosity became the foundation of Bryant’s famous “Mamba Mentality,” the approach that helped him win five championships and become one of the greatest competitors the league has ever seen.

Now, Wembanyama appears to be following a similar path.