"It's very possible that he'll be the face of basketball. Not just NBA basketball, but world basketball," said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle.

The story, as Buford tells it, goes like this: Claudio Crippa, an international scout for the Spurs, proposed going to see a youth game before checking out Doumbouya. Buford saw Wembanyama play for the first time that day. And the seeds for the Spurs’ new master plan were immediately planted.

De'Aaron Fox shook up the NBA landscape on Tuesday afternoon after ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the star could be moved ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Charania tweeted that Fox has a target destination in mind ahead of his 2026 free agency,