Victor Wembanyama returned to training camp Monday describing his offseason preparation as "brutal" following a blood clot that ended his season in February. The 7-foot-4 former Rookie of the Year traveled to China and Japan for spiritual reflection before undertaking an intense physical training program.
Wembanyama spent time at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China, practicing Chan meditation and Shaolin Kung Fu. He also visited NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston upon returning to the United States.
Teammates witnessed Wembanyama's extreme conditioning firsthand during a defensive drill where he guards every player one-on-one without breaks. After completing the sequence, he sprints to the other end and repeats the drill.
"I don't think I've ever seen someone work out like that," Julian Champagnie told The Athletic. "It's crazy to see."
"My training this summer, it was brutal," Wembanyama said at media day. "This summer, I chose to do something much more violent. Maybe that takes away from some time I can spend on shooting the basketball, but it doesn't matter. I wanted to get my body back."
Wembanyama joined veteran Harrison Barnes for two weeks of training in Los Angeles with skill trainer Noah Laroche using the Constraints-Led Approach. The method replaces traditional drills with live-action scenarios, training players to find optimal solutions rather than relying on scripted movements.
"It wasn't as forced. Obviously, Vic is Vic, he's a freak of nature," Champagnie said. "I think he just played well within the flow of the game. It just shows him a different way of playing the game while still being able to do what he does."
Wembanyama reported significant physical improvements from his summer work. He feels stronger and heavier while maintaining better conditioning and control.
"I can assure you, nobody has trained like I did this summer," Wembanyama said. "And this is my best summer so far. I can tell the progress is just incredible. I feel better, I look stronger and the scale says I'm heavier."
First-year head coach Mitch Johnson praised Wembanyama's intentionality in seeking improvement through varied methods.
"For someone of his age, he is so intentional on the variety of ways that he tries to improve as a player and a person," Johnson said. "It's really something I've never witnessed or experienced in my time."