Off-day fun for Victor Wembanyama in New York? Chess in Washington Square Park.

It should go without saying, but this is not how most players spend their off days in New York.

The Spurs are spending the day in New York after beating the Nets on Friday night before flying off to Minnesota for a game on Sunday night. Victor Wembanyama’s day started with these posts on X.

As you would expect, people showed up to test the 7’3″ guy in a puffy jacket hunched over the chess board.

If you want to know why to love Wembanyama and embrace him as the future of the league, it’s not the 7’3″ frame or the 3-point shooting or all the blocks. It’s that on a rainy Saturday on his day off he wanted to compete, playing chess against random people he doesn’t know in a wet and cold park. This is why the future of the league is in good hands.