NBA Draft: Victor Wembanyama officially joins Spurs as top pick; Hornets take Brandon Miller over Scoot Henderson

The advertising proclaimed Victor Wembanyama to be the top talent bound for the NBA since LeBron James received his entry pass 20 years ago.

Now the ball was rolling — the name called by commissioner Adam Silver, putting on the San Antonio Spurs cap, the walk across the stage, the happy pose.

The Spurs won the lottery. The league did, too.

Wembymania is officially coming to Texas and ultimately to 29 opposing arenas.

Wembanyama, a 19-year-old French phenom listed by the league at 7-4 and said to be 7-5 in sneakers, became the top overall pick in the NBA Draft Thursday night at Barclays Center.

The tears flowed.

“Probably the best night of my life,” Wembanyama said, composed again in the interview room. “I’ve been dreaming about this for so long.”

This is the beginning for Wembanyama. But the draft position was also the culmination of a tall kid’s goal — to go No. 1.

New goal: “My goal is going to be to get closer and closer every time to the ring and to learn how to make it [happen],” Wembanyama said.

San Antonio fans have been buzzing over his impending arrival since the May moment when the team won the first pick. Wembanyama is also happy to be going to the Spurs.

So what excites him the most about that and what does he want to work on this summer?

“Breakfast tacos,” he quipped. “I’ve heard a lot about breakfast tacos.

“No, I can’t wait to wear my first Spurs jersey. I just can’t wait. It's the start of such a great adventure. You never know what's going to happen, and this is what's exciting.”

His sunny personality and willingness to embrace the attention should come in handy considering the even brighter spotlight and heavier hype coming his way.

“He’s a very good person,” said Bilal Coulibaly, a guard/forward who was Wembanyama’s teammate this past season with Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 in the French league and went No. 7 to Indiana before being traded to Washington. “He’s humble, talking with everybody whenever he can. He’s like a normal guy.”

With not-so-normal skills.

Wembanyama led his league in scoring (21.6), rebounding (10.4) and blocks (3.0) this past season. The center/wing hit 47 threes across 34 games.

“Everybody has been a unicorn over the last few years, but he is more like an alien,” James had said about him. “No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor . . . His ability to put the ball on the floor, shoot step-back jumpers out of the post, step-back threes, catch-and-shoot threes, block shots — he is, for sure, a generational talent.”

There was plenty of other talent being dispersed over two rounds and 58 selections.

Charlotte grabbed Brandon Miller with the second overall pick. The 6-9 forward from Alabama earned first-team AP All-America honors and SEC Player of the Year after becoming the conference’s top scorer and the nation’s top freshman scorer at 18.8 points per game. He also made 38.4% of his threes and averaged 8.2 rebounds.

He came to the draft with baggage over a gun he allegedly brought that was used in a fatal shooting by another man in a January incident. But Miller wasn’t charged.

“I’ve always dreamed to walk across the stage and shake their hand and take the pictures that we did,” Miller said. “It’s just all a dream come true . . . For me, I can bring just a winner.”

Portland took Scoot Henderson with the third pick. The 6-2 point guard played for the NBA G League Ignite the last two seasons, averaging 16.1 points, 5.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds.

“I’m the most prepared player in the draft,” Henderson said. “The fact that I went there for two years just taught me so much.”

The 6-7 Thompson twins, guard Amen and guard/forward Ausar, who both played two seasons in Overtime Elite, the pro circuit in Atlanta, didn’t wait long to hear their names called.

Amen is a minute older than Ausar. So maybe it was fitting he went a few minutes before Ausar. Houston took Amen with the fourth pick. Detroit took Ausar with the fifth pick. It was the first time two brothers went in the top 10 of the same draft.

“I think it’s kind of cool going first,” Amen said.

With the sixth pick, Orlando selected Arkansas guard Anthony Black.

There were other notable selections.

Michigan guard/forward Jett Howard, the son of Wolverines coach and 19-year NBA player Juwan Howard, went to Orlando at No. 11. Jordan Hawkins, the shooting guard from national champ UConn, was New Orleans’ choice at No. 14.

And Villanova forward Cam Whitmore, the Big East Freshman of the Year, went 20th to Houston.

Some mock drafts had Whitmore going much higher. But he had a longer wait.

"I've been overlooked a lot of times in my life, so it didn't really faze me," Whitmore said. "I'm just really happy to be in the NBA."