Something didn't look right during when Victor Wembanyama — the San Antonio Spurs' superstar rookie — took the court against the Golden State Warriors on Friday, and it had nothing to do with how he performed.
The last name on Wembanyama's jersey was misspelled before Friday's game, with the second "m" being changed to an "n" so that the jersey read, "Wembanyana."
Wembanyama's name was misspelled on his jersey ?
He has now switched to a correct one pic.twitter.com/j7Ge1qiG3L
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 25, 2023
Luckily, somebody on the Spurs bench or somewhere else in the Warriors' Chase Center quickly noticed the typo, as Wembanyama swapped out the faulty jersey for one with his name spelled correctly before halftime.
While most of social media found the mistake funny, Wembanyama — who scored 22 points and recorded two blocks in a 118-112 loss to Golden State — didn't share that same sentiment. When asked about the jersey typo postgame, Wembanyama said, "It's a real shame. I don't know if somebody got fired, but the Spurs did their job by checking my name and noticing it. But, I don't know, it's a real shame."
Although the wording of his statement makes it unclear whether Wembanyama was suggesting somebody should get fired for the jersey mistake, it's obvious that he was upset about his last name being spelled incorrectly. Wembanyama has probably been dealing with people mispronouncing and misspelling his last name for his entire life, so we'd imagine that the joke has long since gotten old to him. Yet, it still seemed to be an honest mistake that was quickly corrected. Was it really such a shame?
Regardless of Wembanyama's feelings, there's no doubt that — considering a game-worn Wembanyama jersey sold for $762,000 at an auction earlier this month — somebody would buy this viral "Wembanyana" jersey for a whole lot of money. One X user even wrote, "Misspelled Wemby jersey will go for millions. Like a misprint on a rare sports card."
They're not wrong.
While it's unknown where the now-infamous "Wembanyana" jersey went after Wembanyama took it off, it's safe to say that the French sensation didn't keep it for himself. Perhaps the Spurs equipment manager or whoever it was who made the typo can keep the jersey, in case the Spurs do end up deciding to fire them. It's surely worth more than that person's salary.
