Spurs' Victor Wembanyama Skipping Sacramento Summer League, Will Debut in Las Vegas

Victor Wembanyama won't be with the San Antonio Spurs for their two-game California Classic Summer League schedule.

The team announced on Wednesday the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft won't travel to Sacramento for the July 3 and 5 games, but he will join them for Las Vegas Summer League.

This news doesn't come as a surprise because the California Classic only takes place over two days with six teams. There's no point in having Wembanyama travel from San Antonio to Sacramento to Las Vegas.

Vegas Summer League begins on July 7 with all 30 teams taking part. The Spurs are scheduled to open the season against the Charlotte Hornets in a game that could put Wembanyama against No. 2 pick Brandon Miller.

Wembanyama said leading up to the draft he plans to play "a little bit" in Summer League. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters coming out of the draft the team was still figuring out how much the 19-year-old phenom will be used in Vegas.

"We're talking about what he should be doing moving forward," Popovich said. "He will participate in the Summer League. To what degree, we're not sure yet."

Wembanyama announced earlier this week he wouldn't play for France in the FIBA World Cup to prepare for the upcoming season.

It will be interesting to see how many games Wembanyama actually plays during Summer League.

Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, only played two games for the Orlando Magic. He averaged 20.0 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per contest before being shutdown.

Cade Cunningham, the top pick in the 2021 draft, appeared in three Summer League games for the Detroit Pistons prior to his rookie season.

Wembanyama is coming off a busy 2022-23 season with the Metropolitans 92 in which he played all 34 regular-season games and 10 playoff games. He was named Pro A MVP after leading the league in scoring average (21.6 points), rebounding (10.4) and blocks (3.1).