One of the biggest European NBA stars is Victor Wembanyama, from San Antonio Spurs, who is also beloved in France (despite prioritising his NBA season over EuroBasket). His career started in Paris, and he is also a big Paris Saint-Germain fan, so he knows how sports fandom in Europe is often different than in the US. And he wants to bring some of the "passion" seen in ultras clubs to the NBA, in time for the NBA season, which will start on October 26 for San Antonio Spur.
As reported by RMC, 'Wemby' has launched a call for the "craziest, most passionate fans" to create an ultras group in San Antonio, on Sunday, September 14, inspired by the Paris Ultras Collective.
"The section will be located behind the basket with 150 to 300 people. We'll have to find a name, a logo, we'll have scarves..." explains Wembanyama, who will be present at the call on Sunday. "Growing up in Europe and being a huge football fan, I saw how much the ultras brought life to a stadium and their community. I know that's not really the case in American culture, but I think it's time. And if there's one place where it can work in the NBA, it's here in San Antonio."
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Wembanyama feels that the ultras could help the Spurs win games in the future. "41 home games in the regular season means 41 opportunities to push in the fourth quarter to give us that extra energy."