While most NBA stars spend their offseason in Mykonos or the Caribbean, Victor Wembanyama chose a 10-day spiritual bootcamp at a Shaolin temple. Because of course he did.

The young man who reads philosophy, sci-fi and fantasy books for fun and treats social media like kryptonite just spent his summer learning ancient Chinese martial arts. And somehow, this makes perfect sense for the most alien talent the league has ever seen.

Having bounced around China for 25 years myself, I’ve watched Wemby’s Middle Kingdom adventures with fascination—though I’ll admit, I’ve never had the opportunity to actually step foot in a Shaolin temple. But our French stick figure? He dove headfirst into 10 days of monks, meditation, and probably the most graceful kung fu forms ever performed by someone of his stature.

Picture this: Wemby rolling out of bed at 5 AM for meditation, then spending hours perfecting Shaolin forms that somehow look elegant when your wingspan could shelter a small village. The temple’s daily grind reads like Wemby’s basketball routine on steroids—early mornings, brutal conditioning, and enough mental discipline to make Navy SEALs weep.

The Shaolin playbook includes foundational kung fu techniques, Qi Gong energy work, and traditional weapons training. But here’s the kicker: it’s all built around the mind-body connection. Something that also separates good athletes from transcendent ones.

Think about it. The same flexibility work that has Shaolin monks flowing like water? That’s what lets Wemby contort his endless limbs into impossible defensive positions that make Steph Curry rethink his life choices. The meditation that teaches monks to harness internal energy? That’s Wemby staying zen while double-teams collapse around him like he’s Neo in The Matrix.

“It was a great experience,” Wembanyama said. “My goal going there was putting my body through things that it’s not used to doing and allowing my range of movement and strength. This was probably as very different as possible from what I’m used to doing.” What did that entail? “Kung fu. Everyday. It was like a vegan temple, monastery. … I was isolated,”

Guillaume Alquier, Wemby’s longtime trainer, has been preaching this gospel for three years. When asked why flexibility matters for someone whose natural advantages already break basketball, Alquier explained how he works with Victor: “these sessions typically alternate between legs, upper body and coordination drills, utilizing rest time for one thing to work on something else. We stretch not just to be flexible, but to sharpen control over that flexibility and improve coordination in the process.” in an ESPN story. here

From the outside, Wemby’s Shaolin sabbatical looks like another quirky chapter in the Victor Wembanyama Experience. But dig deeper, and it’s pure basketball genius disguised as spiritual enlightenment.

The Shaolin philosophy teaches that mastering kung fu means mastering life, taking control through discipline and routine to achieve your goals. Sound familiar? It’s the same blueprint that turned a skinny French teenager into the most unstoppable force the NBA has seen since Wilt and Shaq’s days.

While his peers were probably working on their three-point shooting, Wemby was learning how to channel his inner monk. And honestly? The league should be terrified.

This is a player who already moves like he’s from another planet, now adding 2,000 years of Chinese martial arts philosophy to his toolkit. The same mental discipline that helps Shaolin practitioners achieve the impossible is now in the hands of someone who can block shots with his pinky toe.

Here’s an explanation, in English, of the Shaolin routine, its design and ultimately how Shaolin practitioners, through discipline, control their efforts and achieve higher goals.

Maybe the rest of the league should start booking temple retreats. Because while they’re working on their jumpers, Wemby’s out here achieving basketball enlightenment, one crane kick at a time.