Given his level of play and all-time great potential, San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama should already be landing a seemingly endless stream of endorsement deals. That's usually part of reaching NBA superstardom: beyond enormous player salaries, a 7'4" unicorn is expected to bring in even more millions through partnerships with the world's biggest brands.
The great Michael Jordan did it for Coca-Cola and McDonald's. LeBron James is doing it for Pepsi and Taco Bell. But much to everyone's surprise, Wembanyama has only a handful of endorsement deals — not because companies aren't knocking at his door; he and his team are very selective about which deals they want on their table.
And one thing Wembanyama has made abundantly clear: he will not endorse any soda drinks.
It's natural for professional athletes to strike while the iron is hot and say yes to almost every deal that gets thrown onto their lap. Professional sporting careers are finite, and Wembanyama certainly won't be playing basketball forever.
However, there's a downside to biting off more than an athlete can chew: serving too many masters could lead to burnout and leave too little time to keep the main thing the main thing.
Wembanyama's agent, Jeremy Medjana, the co-founder of Agence Comsport, said they're very wary of this for their ward.
"The philosophy is, we don't want him to be too distracted. We want him to stay focused, and this is why he did not sign too many deals," Medjana explained . "If you sign too many deals, then you cannot stay focused on the main goal to be better, to get rest, to get treatment."
A prime example of how intentionally Wembanyama and his team have been in picking and choosing which companies they want to engage with is that they have always rebuffed soda companies — even a billion-dollar empire like Coca-Cola.
"We're not gonna mix his image with sodas like Coca-Cola," Medjana continued. "They all want him, but Victor will never sell soda. Because he doesn't want to kill the kids."
Wembanyama is a big proponent of health and wellness, as evidenced by his equity investment in the plant-based sports drink brand Barcode. And if anyone doesn't believe how serious he is about what he's putting into his body, his reaction to seeing Gatorade on his table is all the proof everybody needs.
While Wembanyama pushes to capture the Larry O'Brien Trophy as quickly as possible, he's taking a more measured approach to building his off-court brand.
So far, he only has deals with Nike, Louis Vuitton, 2K Sports, Fanatics Authentic and H-E-B. The big man understands that the world will bow at his feet as soon as he wins it all.
But until then, he will bide his time and continue working on his craft.
"I think what Victor understands is not to be distracted by all of the fanfare around his career," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. "Because he will be defined by championships, not by commercial opportunities or the platform he has to speak out on issues he cares about."
"Ultimately, for a player to take that mantle, they have to win," he added. "And in the conversations I've had with Wemby, I've emphasized that, but I'm not sure I had to tell him that. The precondition to being a leader on the global stage is winning."
Wembanyama is four wins away from securing his first NBA championship. That's the main goal. Everything else is secondary.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
