The San Antonio Public Library unveiled its “Read like Wemby” display on Instagram on Thursday, turning the Central Library into a tribute to Victor Wembanyama’s taste in books. The showcase is built around the Spurs star’s love of science fiction and the habit that has made him as recognizable with a novel as with a basketball.
The display features several books by Robert Jordan, a “Dune” graphic novel, “The Mime Order” by Samantha Shannon and “The World We Make” by N.K. Jemisin. It comes as Wembanyama is often spotted with a book in hand on the way to NBA games, a detail that has only deepened the fascination around how he spends his time off the court.
That fascination did not start this week. Last year, Wembanyama and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić drew attention in a viral exchange when Wembanyama said, “I read before every game,” prompting a face palm from Jokić. The moment spread quickly because it sounded less like a media answer than a glimpse into a player who treats reading as part of his pregame routine.
The library is leaning into that version of Wembanyama rather than the one defined by box scores and highlight reels. Its Instagram post and the Central Library display highlight science fiction titles tied to his reading interests, and the library has also created a Libby list built around the same theme. That list includes a mix of physical books and audiobooks, giving readers a way to follow the trail without hunting down every title on their own.
One of the books linked to his recent reading is “Alchemised” by SenLinYu, a more than 1,000-page novel that began life as fanfiction called “Manacled.” That earlier work was based on a romance between “Harry Potter” characters Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, a backstory that helps explain why the current book has drawn attention well beyond the usual fantasy crowd.
For San Antonio, the display is a small but unmistakable sign of how Wembanyama has become part of the city’s cultural landscape as much as its sports one. The library is not celebrating his scoring or his size. It is celebrating the fact that one of the NBA’s most closely watched players walks into games with a book in hand, and that his reading habit has now become something the public library thinks worth putting on display.
For readers who want to follow the trail, the library has already done the work. The next step is simple: walk into the Central Library, or open the Libby list, and see what Wemby has been carrying to the arena all this time.
