Hong Kong-on the basketball court, the NBA star, Victor Wembanyama, plays with the front center, but in China it seems that he has temporarily taken the position of a Shaolin monk.
The imposing 7 -foot 3 -inch player from France has been touring China and seems to have taken a spiritual deviation in the Shaolin temple in a widely shared image on the Chinese Weibo social media platform.
With a shaved head and with a gray robe, we can see Wembanyama sitting in front of the Buddha statues in a photo published Monday by the official weibo page of the NBA, which said the player had “informed” began a 10 -day retirement in the temple in the central province of Henan.
“Deepen your spiritual journey!” The publication reads.
Wembanyama is in “Training of Martial Arts of Closed Door”, an employee of the Songshan Shaolin scenic area, which includes the temple, told NBC News on Wednesday.
“No one can see it. Deliberately it remains out of public opinion,” said the employee, who refused to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Wembanyama’s team, the San Antonio Spurs, based in Texas, published a video on Instagram last week by Wembanyama exploring the great Chinese wall, while he still had his hair.
“@Wemby exploring China!” He said the publication.
One of the comments of the users under said: “It looks like a regular size bridge when it occurs.”
NBA’s 2024-25 season ended early for Wembanyama, 21, due to deep venous thrombosis in his right shoulder, so he underwent surgery in March, not long after his first appearance in the NBA stars game. At that time, I was averaging 24.3 points, 11 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
The rookie of the NBA year of 2024 and the general selection number 1 in the 2023 draft, Wembanyama entered the NBA as possibly the best basketball prospect from LeBron James in 2003.
In addition to the Spurs that publish their video, Wembanyama has maintained its travel from China quite discreet, without publishing anything about it in its own social media accounts.
The retreats in the Shaolin temple have become increasingly popular in recent years with celebrities visiting China. Visits generally combine meditation, martial arts of Kung Fu and Zen Buddhist practices.
Youtuber and Ishhowspeed live visited the same temple in March and the NBA star Shaquille O’Neal also visited in 2009.
Peter Guo, Larissa Gao and Matteo Moschella contributed.
