Victor Wembanyama, the San Antonio Spurs star, announced the organization of the first edition of the "Hoop Gambit," a combined basketball and chess tournament scheduled for Sunday at Le Chesnay. Wembanyama has expressed his ambition to spend his entire NBA career with the Spurs, emphasizing his preference for maintaining the current young core rather than trading for an established veteran. Recently, he and his physical trainer Guillaume Alquier completed a spiritual retreat at a Shaolin temple in China, where they were officially recognized as monks. Meanwhile, Vincent Collet, the former head coach of the French national basketball team during the 2024 Paris Olympics, stated he was relieved that Joel Embiid did not join the French team despite political pressure from the sports minister. Collet believes the French interior player resources were sufficient and expressed contentment with the team's composition. Additionally, comments from French basketball analyst Stephane Brun suggested that the intensity of the EuroBasket tournament was too high for Wembanyama to participate immediately after the Olympics, understanding his decision to skip the event.