Inside the basketball journey for 7-foot-5 Canadian teen —who wants to be much more than just the ‘Wemby stopper’

Inside the basketball journey for 7-foot-5 Canadian teen —who wants to be much more than just the ‘Wemby stopper’

Move over Knicks, there is a new “Wemby Stopper.”

Already standing at 7-foot-5 as a 15-years-old, Jeremy Gohier is one of the most intriguing long-term NBA prospects in the world.

His size and crazy haircut, inspired by Ronaldo Nazário’s infamous 2002 hairstyle, blew up on social media in a video with over 3.5 million views.

Now, fans are claiming Gohier’s the next Victor Wembanyama or the future Wembanyama stopper.

While Gohier admires the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Gohier’s youth coach at Nobel Elite, Daniel Mulumba, said he doesn’t like the comparison.

“He wants to be his own person and be the next Jeremy Gohier,” Mulumba told The Post. “He wants to create his own path like Wemby did.”

Gohier and those around him don’t lack for confidence in his future prospects, with the teen saying at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup he wants to be better than Wembanyama one day and thinks he has a physicality advantage.

Jeremy Gohier has high hopes for his NBA future. Youtube/StrictlyBBall

“I’m not going to lie, Wemby, bro. He looks like me … same mobility just stronger,” Gohier told Taking the Charge recently. “So it’s more difficult for me, but I want to play like him, I want to shoot like him, I want to be better than him … I know him since he played the FIBA U19 World Cup, but I started like to create a competition me versus him. A competition of me versus him in my head last year.”

It’s a strong stance given Wembanyama’s ascendency in the league, leading the Spurs this past season to the NBA Finals, where they fell to the Knicks in five games.

The 22-year-old Frenchman, who averaged 25 points and 11 rebounds per game last season, is already one of the premier players in the league.

Gohier gained “40 pounds of muscle” this year and weighs almost 85 pounds more than Wembanyama did at 15, according to Jérémy Medjana, who is the agent for both players.

The Quebec native worked primarily on agility, footwork and becoming comfortable with his body from the ages 9 to 12, only starting to work more on basketball skills in the past three years.

“Boxing was the game-changer for him,” said Mulumba, who owns a basketball and boxing training company.

Jeremy Gohier has high hopes for his NBA future. Youtube/StrictlyBBall

“When he started doing boxing and working on his footwork, I feel like that’s when he really started to understand exactly how to control his body and spacing.”

Gohier said he believes his footwork can help him fill a different role than Wembanyama in the future.

At the Fiba U17 World Cup, Goheier averaged 11.7 minutes and tallied 2.0 points per game on 27.3% shooting to go with 3.7 rebounds and 0.66 blocks.

Gohier said he prefers the power forward and small forward positions, and can even play as a guard.

Mulumba explained that he’s trying to get Gohier to understand that his size is his biggest asset, but the 7-foot-5 teenager would rather shoot around the perimeter than rely solely on post moves.

“He doesn’t want people to just see him as a 7-foot-5 big man,” Mulumba said. “He wants to be able to shoot the ball, he wants to be able to dribble, he wants to be able to play the one to the five.”

Jeremy Gohier before his haircut. Basketball.ca

Comparisons between Wembanyama and Gohier ramped up when the teenager announced he would join Wembanyama’s former team, Nanterre 92, for the upcoming season.

Mulumba thinks the move is “a perfect fit” for Gohier because of the access to professional nutritionists, medical staff and physical conditioning coaches.

“When you look at Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, all of those guys are coming from Europe,” Mulumba said. “I feel like it was the most logical thing to do.”

He added that Gohier had a lot of offers from prep schools in the United States, but none that offered him the opportunity Nanterre did.

Jeremy Gohier is going to play in France next season. Youtube/StrictlyBBall

Gohier does plan to play in the United States for college, however, because he wants to “compare himself with the Americans.”

When Gohier makes that jump, he’ll have UC Irvine big man Olivier Rioux in his corner.

Rioux, the 7-feet-9 center who made headlines after signing with Florida for the 2024-25 season, lives 15 minutes away from Gohier.

Mulumba said the two work out together and Rioux acts as Gohier’s mentor. The Rioux family has also helped the Gohier’s navigate the depths of social media and the confusing path to college basketball.

Gohier couldn’t care less about the attention, according to Mulumba, but his mom, who runs his instagram account, is worried about the effects it could have on the young star.

“He’s very down-to-earth when it comes to that,” Mulumba said. “Of course, he always appreciates when people are sending him love and encouraging him to do better but it doesn’t go all over his head.”

Whether he plays into it or not, the hype around Gohier is real and will only heighten as he attempts to develop into basketball’s next dominant skyscraper.

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