Former President Barack Obama spoke on basketball podcast All the Smoke this week, and once again sang the praises of Spurs star forward Victor Wembanyama.
“I think Wemby will be as good as we are projecting,” Obama said on the podcast’s most recent episode, which dropped Wednesday morning. “I watched him at the All-Star game and I was sitting there, real quick, first time I’ve seen him live, and I don’t remember somebody that big moving like that.”
Obama also offered up advice for the young superstar.
“He’s gotta figure out what his go-to move is, he’s gotta put on some weight, and he’s gotta work on his conditioning because you could tell he got tired,” the former president said.
Obama added that he believed Wemby got tired “[p]artly because it just looks to me like playing defense today is so much harder because you have to close out everything. So it used to be, you’re Wemby, you just plant yourself in the paint. You’re a rim protector. But I’m watching him on defense now, the way they’re using him, he’s like in the paint, and then he’s trying to close out a three-pointer.”
Obama also offered some light criticism for point guard De’Aaron Fox, whom many fans blamed for enabling the Knicks to score winning points instead of holding on to the ball in the final seconds of Game 4.
“I think De’Aaron Fox is a great player, but he’s not like a natural point guard,” he added. “And they probably would have benefited from just a [traditional point guard] like CP3 [Chris Paul], Steve Nash or like Mo Cheeks going back to the old days.”
Obama expressed belief that the Spurs’ rookie player will one day take on that role.
“I mean at some point I think [Dylan] Harper is going to be that guy but he’s 20,” Obama told the hosts. “Sometimes I look at these guys and I have to remind myself Sasha, my younger daughter, just turned 25, so these kids are five years younger than my baby.”
Nonetheless, the former president expressed hope at a promising legacy for the young team.
“[T]hat team is going to have such a great future,” he said.
All the Smoke is hosted by NBA champion Matt Barnes — a former Memphis Grizzly and Golden State Warrior — and Stephen Jackson, who himself served two separate stints as a San Antonio Spur.
Once rivals on the court, Barnes and Jackson now have a successful podcast and social media following, with two million followers combined across YouTube and Instagram.
The podcast is known for landing major guests, including Kamala Harris and Kobe Bryant, whose appearance was his final interview before his death.
This isn’t the first time Obama has praised Wemby and predicted big things in the Spurs’ future.
“It’s hard to take your eyes off Wembanyama when he’s on the court,” Obama said on a podcast called The Young Man and the Three in 2024, making comparisons to Magic Johnson, Kevin Durant and Larry Bird.
“He makes the rest of y’all look tiny,” he added.
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