Before Victor Wembanyama, there was Frederic Weis

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Frederic Weis was supposed to be Victor Wembanyama before Victor Wembanyama. The 7’2 Frenchman was drafted by the Knicks in the first round of the 1999 NBA Draft, and was thought to be the next great European star to crossover to the States. But one year later, in the Olympics, Weis would be on the receiving end of one of the most memorable dunks ever, when Vince Carter literally dunked over him. The narrative around Weis began to shift – suddenly he was too soft for the NBA, and he would never actually play in an NBA game. But that narrative never reflected the full truth. Now, 23 years later – as the arrival of Wembanyama is celebrated – Sam Borden gives us the story of the rise and fall and rise again, of Frederic Weis… and how, after so many years, and a great deal of pain, basketball has proved to be Frederic Weis’s salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	ESPN Daily is presented by YouTube TV.
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0:22.0	Before we get started today, a quick content note.
0:26.0	This episode contains discussion of depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal actions.
0:33.0	Consider this a word of caution if that's a sensitive topic for you or anyone listening with you.
0:45.0	Sandboard, you were recently in Paris where you lived for a long time.
0:49.0	What did you see on this most recent visit?
0:53.0	Yeah, Jeremy, it was interesting.
0:55.0	I was at the Accur Arena, which is sort of like the big arena in Paris.
1:00.0	And on this particular night, there was a French league basketball game.
1:06.0	And Victor Wemba Nyama was playing.
1:13.0	The place was sold out.
1:15.0	Everybody wanted to see Wemba Nyama.
1:17.0	It was sort of like his farewell game to Paris and they played it in this big arena.
1:22.0	And obviously the vast majority of people were there to see him.
1:30.0	But I was there to see someone else.
1:33.0	And that someone else was Frederick Vice.
1:42.0	Frederick Vice on this night was working as a broadcaster for Beansports, the French television station.
1:49.0	And it was impossible to miss Vice because he was one of the only people on the court who was just about as tall as Wemba Nyama.
2:00.0	Two decades before Wemba Nyama became this global sensation, Vice was the Frenchman who was in the spotlight.
2:08.0	He was drafted in the first round by the New York Knicks and everybody thought,
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