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Imago
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After unlocking the most cinematic offseason workout, Victor Wembanyama has set his sights on his next adventure. With the exceptional season he’s had, there probably would be more players flocking to Shaolin Temples in the summer to get some of the same training. But the most physically unique player in the league right now isn’t satisfied with the standard basketball drills.
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Ahead of his postseason debut, the San Antonio Spurs star sat down with Malika Andrews to talk about where he was a year ago after a season cut short by blood clots. Wembanyama opened up about his transformative summer at a Shaolin Temple in China and hinted at his next unconventional goal- one that involves trading the hardwood for the pitch to train with a professional team in a full-contact sport.
The 7’5″ phenom who is making a strong case for MVP and DPOY explained that these off-court summer adventures are central to his philosophy of physical evolution, seeking to master movement patterns that standard NBA training cannot replicate. “I was just thinking I’m not able to do these things physically right now. So my body still has some areas to fill and some areas to develop.”
He further told Andrews, “It’s been very important for me to develop my body into what it can be and like fulfill the potential as much as possible.”
Wemby on why he trained with monks:
“They go to show us a demonstration, a show of what they do with kung fu. 30 seconds in we were convinced: All the doubts we might have had before long gone. I get extremely jealous and I’m like this I want to be able to do it. Some things I… pic.twitter.com/VGmxGGOTLz
— Oh No He Didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) April 16, 2026
Before anyone thinks he’s going to inspire the next sports blockbuster training montage, he’s applying this same philosophy to potentially pick up another sport.
“One thing I wanted to do but I didn’t do this summer is practice with a rugby team because it’s same, you know, patterns of movement my body’s not used to do and that can translate to what I do basketball,” Wembanyama explained.
He nearly made it happen last summer and intends to follow through soon. While the Kung Fu training focused on flexibility and explosive core strength, Wembanyama is already looking toward the pitch for his next challenge.
Victor Wembanyama reveals the difficulty of his offseason training
Despite the “incredible scenery” of the millennium-old temple nestled in a forest at the foot of a mountain, Wemby was initially skeptical of the monks’ skills. But that changed once he saw what they could do.
“They go to show us a demonstration, a show of what they do of kung fu. 30 seconds in, we were convinced. All the doubts we might have had before, long gone. I get extremely jealous and I’m like this, I want to be able to do it.”
That didn’t come easy. While the Internet laughed about Wemby towering over the monks, adapting their movements to his massive wingspan initially caused trouble but was ultimately worth the struggle.
“Some things I did over there overloaded certain muscles in my body that were not used to this kind of efforts and I think it made it stronger. I think it made it more resilient.”
Wemby claims he was throwing a hundred kicks a day across those 10 days.
“I’ve never thrown any kick in my life before and all of a sudden I’m throwing hundreds a day. So it has an impact on the body and there were some days where I was extremely sore but I think it was beneficial.”
Despite the pain, he believes it gave him the functional foundation to lead the Spurs into the playoffs against all odds.
Written by
Edited by

Tanay Sahai
