Meet Mohamed Dabone, The Next Generational Basketball Prospect Who Has Already Been Dubbed "Wemby Antetokounmpo"
David Grau. Getty Images.Whether it was LeBron or Wemby, every so often the basketball world produces a generational prospect whose dominance feels inevitable. And while there have been tons of super hyped up prospects through the years, I'm talking about the truly special, 1 of 1 type of player. I'm not talking about really good players who end up going #1 and having HOF careers. I'm talking about the rarest of the rare. A prodigy. The type of prospect that can change the entire trajectory of your NBA franchise for decades, should you be fortunate enough to get the Lottery luck needed to have the privilege of drafting him.
Here I was this morning, minding my own business while having my morning coffee and scrolling my timeline, and I came across what is surely going to be the next iteration of that type of generational talent.
I'm sorry, 13 years old?!?!?!?
A WEMBY ANTETOKOUNMPO HYBRID???????
Remember those old Wemby clips of when he was a skinny as hell 13-year-old who was dominating in France, and immediately everyone knew that we were watching one of the best prospects ever, who as long as he stayed healthy was going to absolutely terrorize the NBA?
That's how I felt watching that 30 second clip. Frankly, it's all I needed to see. Tough break for any NBA team out there that may have already traded their early 2030s 1st round pick, because you just missed out on the chance to potentially add a Wemby/Giannis hybrid to your roster.
After watching that clip, there was no way my brain would accept that this prospect was 13 years old, so I decided to put on my Big J journalism hat and do some digging (aka a Google search). As it turns out, there's a chance nobody has any idea how old he might actually be. On the official EuroLeague website, his birthdate is listed as October 21, 2011. That's the date you see in that NBA draft tweet. But then, in a 2023 tournament, he was listed at 16 years old.
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If he's really 13 years old, he's easily the best basketball prospect of all time right? I mean look at him! The size, the skill, the coordination, the athleticism, even LeBron didn't look like that at 13, and he's probably the best basketball prospect I've ever seen in my entire life.
If he's 16-17, I don't give a shit! If in reality he's even closer to entering the NBA Draft, that's fine by me. You're telling me we could see him Draft eligible in 1-2 years? As someone whose favorite team is about to enter a "gap year" and desperately needs a floor spacing 6'11 center
I'm all in!
That jumper at the 12 second mark of that clip may as well have been KD. It just goes to show you how the game of basketball is evolving. You have 6'11 guys who can play/shoot like guards, but then also can dominate at the rim. It's what makes Wemby so insane as a player. At the NBA level, that's the sort of skillset you can build your franchise around, and while we're obviously a LONG WAYS away from that being the case here, but you can definitely see the vision should his development continue to trend upwards.
All I'm saying is nobody wanted to believe the Wemby hype when that first started a few years before he became Draft eligible and look what happened. It couldn't have been more spot on. Why can't that be the case here? A Wemby/Giannis hybrid with a jumper is basically an NBA GM's dream, so don't be surprised if we start to see the same type of hype train leave the station in a few years and NBA teams around the league all decide it's time to tank like they've never tanked before.