Bob Cousy is sending some high praise to a man who is 76 years his junior.
The Boston Celtics icon Cousy went viral this week over his message for San Antonio Spurs standout Victor Wembanyama. Through a representative, Cousy said that he believed Wembanyama would be “the next Bill Russell.”
“Tell him he will be the next Bill Russell and let him know that the first Frenchman in NBA history is watching him closely and with great attention,” Cousy said of Wembanyama, per EuroHoops.
Cousy, now 96, is the son of French immigrants. Similarly, Wembanyama, still only 20 years old, hails from France.
That is incredibly lofty praise from Cousy, who played with the late Russell on the Celtics from 1956-63 and won all six of his career championships with Russell by his side. Russell was arguably the greatest defensive player of all-time and won a record 11 championships as a player, a mark that will never be broken.
Wembanyama is only entering his sophomore season in the NBA but looks very much to be the real deal, especially on the defensive end. At a towering 7-foot-3, Wembanyama led the league in blocks as a rookie with 3.6 of them per game and was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year (making the All-Defensive First Team for his efforts). Wembanyama also rounded out his season stat sheet with a very complete 21.4 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game.
Even at his age, Cousy remains very engaged with today’s game and recently made headlines for his strong take on the United States’ Olympic team. For Cousy to call Wembanyama “the next Bill Russell” has to be the one of the highest compliments that the Spurs star can ever get.
