“Sometimes you just need to get away” – Wemby shares that chess provides him a much-needed mental reset during the NBA season
The lifetime of an NBA famous person is one thing many individuals who’ve ever picked up a basketball have dreamed of — taking part in the sport at the highest stage, the fame and standing that comes with it, and all the privileges of being a skilled athlete. However, in the center of a grueling season, fixed media obligations, and the weight of inner and exterior expectations, there inevitably comes a level of mental burnout.
In these moments, gamers flip to varied methods to escape the stress. Some discover reduction via video video games, books, music, or time with family members, whereas others, like Victor Wembanyamaflip to chess, utilizing it as a mental refuge and a method to reset away from the noise of the season.
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“I figure it’s like hitting two birds with one stone. Sometimes you just need to get away,” I’ve told ESPN. “You don’t have the focus needed to read or the focus needed to study something, so chess is good in that sense.”
More and extra NBA stars are utilizing chess as an escape from the exterior noise
Chess just isn’t often one thing you hear related to NBA superstars of Wembanyama’s caliber. However, even during his sophomore season, he made headlines when he determined to interact with followers in a very distinctive method during the San Antonio Spurs‘go to to New York.
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The French phenom posted a tweet calling for followers to meet him at the SW nook of Washington Square Park to play chess, and ended up taking part in with random followers, giving them an as soon as-in-a-lifetime expertise dealing with a potential future face of the league.
That second solely bolstered the mystique that has surrounded Wembanyama ever since he stepped into the NBA highlight — a participant for whom expectations for gamers of his stature are at all times extraordinarily excessive.
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That identical French magnificence and composure he shows on the courtroom clearly extends to his off-courtroom mentality, permitting Victor to stay poised and grounded via the grind of a lengthy, demanding NBA season.
Chess seems to have labored completely for the 7-foot-4 middle, who’s coming off a profession season, averaging 25.0 factors, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and three.1 blocks whereas taking pictures 51.2 % from the discipline.
Along the method, Wemby strengthened his MVP and Defensive Player of the Year candidacy, led the league in blocks, and guided the Spurs to the NBA Cup Final and a second-place end in the Western Conference with a 62–20 file, marking their first 60-win season in a decade.
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We all know, even via the “examples” of on a regular basis lifetime of “ordinary” folks, how a lot, in a random week crammed with stress and obligations, we need that form of launch valve, one thing that can, even briefly, take our minds off the noise and allow us to breathe.
However, chess appears to be rising in reputation amongst league’s largest stars, with Wembanyama’s French NT teammate Rudy Gobert additionally talking about its advantages.
“When you’re just sitting, and you’re just playing chess, you don’t have to do anything else but focus on the board,” Gobert instructed ESPN. “But when you actually start to get some fatigue, mental fatigue, physical fatigue, I think it’s harder to make right decisions, so it kind of challenges you even more.”
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Wemby is holding his thoughts sharp forward of the playoffs
That brings us to the key level of the story. A participant attaining each staff and particular person success this early in his profession, at just 22 years outdated, may simply depend on many different methods to escape stress.
However, the biggest gamers are always looking for new challenges, which retains them sharp and mentally robust when it issues most.
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And just like the legendary Lenny Kravitz echoes in his timeless hit “Fly Away”, generally we’ve to “get away”, break away, disappear for a second, and in that sense, Wembanyama isn’t any completely different from the remainder of us, irrespective of how flawless his life could seem from the exterior wanting in.
While he could have already mastered basketball, what lies forward is the continued sharpening of Vic’s thoughts, and chess has quietly grow to be certainly one of the instruments guiding him alongside that path.
Related: Victor Wembanyama admits he is expecting to make history in the 2026 NBA awards race
This story was initially printed by Basketball Network on Apr 13, 2026, the place it first appeared in the Off The Court part. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
