"With Victor, we are dealing with someone atypical in every sense of the word, mentally and physically. You have to adapt everything to him. We put a lot of energy into it, but it's exciting!" said Ndiaye, watching his 2.24m colt attempt a few shots, for the first time in the white Spurs jersey, in the AT&T Arena.

A few moments earlier, it is visibly more tired, that he had complied with yet another press conference, two days after becoming the first Frenchman in the history N.1 of the draft.

We feel the pride and emotion emerging modestly in this 58-year-old man, whose career is nevertheless punctuated by successes, with, in almost 20 years, about thirty players from his team who have signed in the NBA, and very big blows, such as the record contract signed in 2020 by Rudy Gobert ($ 205 million over five years) with Utah.

So, after several days of intense media whirlwind, from New York to San Antonio, where the reception reserved by the fans embraced a certain excess, seeing Victor finally dunk on the floor of the Spurs is a precious moment. It makes it possible to measure the progress made.

"An extraordinary boy"

"About 30 years ago, I was pushed a little to become an agent, because at the time I was taking care of the kids in Grigny (Essonne), in the city of Grande Borne. And one day, one of them said to me +but why don't you become my agent? It's in you that I trust+".

He created Comsport in 1995, with Jérémy Medjana, admires David Falk, Michael Jordan's agent, and is inspired by Pape Diouf, essential in football, for his ability to establish a relationship of trust, almost family with the players.

Minnesota Timberwolves French center Rudy Gobert before an NBA game on the floor of the New Orleans Pelicans on April 9, 2023 in Minneapolis © Stephen Maturen/Getty/AFP/Archives

"My first decision was to take care only of the French and Africans. I was told +you are crazy, the best basketball players are Americans, foreigners have no value+ I replied: + well it will change+ And today I am in Forbes, ranked among the most influential agents in the world, all sports combined, "he smiles.

"Over the years, we have been able to sharpen our know-how, with all the players we have supported in the NBA, Didier Mbenga, Ian Mahinmi, Ronny Turiaf, Rodrigue Beaubois, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier...", he continues.

"Today, we are in the footsteps of an extraordinary boy. Up there (in his head, editor's note) it goes very, very fast. He is ready. For him, what is happening is normal, because he has been preparing for it for a long time. And we have to use all the accumulated experience, remember the mistakes we may have made too, in his service, "says Ndiaye, observing the mother of the player sitting nearby.

Fierce competition

"From the beginning there are connections, because with Elodie we have known each other for 35 years," he says. She coached my son when he was four years old. When Victor started talking about him, Jeremy (Medjana) told me: +there is this kid, you have to go see him!+ He was 12 years old. I didn't want to, because if someone had come to see my son at that age, I would have sent him ch..."

"By dint of insistence, I ended up going to observe him. We kept in touch and when he turned 15, we started to put things in place, with specificities for each of the sectors to be worked. A medical staff was mobilized, it has Guillaume Alquier, one of the best physical trainers, and there was the daily management on the mental level ...", he lists.

Position in which French players have been chosen in the NBA draft, since the first, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, in 1997 © Cléa PÉCULIER, Sophie RAMIS, Sabrina BLANCHARD / AFP/Archives

All this so that Victor is armed to meet the challenge of the NBA. We also slip to Ndiaye that he too will have to strengthen his game with Comsport, facing the fierce competition that will not fail to want to steal his customer.

"Some U.S. agents have already tried," he says with a smile. "But we don't take care of that. What matters are the results."

© 2023 AFP