Plasmonic nanobubbles are composite objects resulting from the interaction between light and metallic nanoparticles immersed in a fluid. Plasmonic nanobubbles have applications in photothermal therapies, drug delivery, microfluidic manipulations, and solar energy conversion. Their early formation is, however, barely characterized due to the short time and length scales relevant to the process. Here, we investigate, using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the effect of nanoparticle wettability on both the local fluid thermodynamics and the kinetics of nanobubble generation in water. We first show that the local onset temperature of vapor nucleation decreases with the nanoparticle/water interfacial energy and may be 100 K below the water spinodal temperature in the case of weak nanoparticle/water interactions. Second, we demonstrate that vapor nucleation may be slower in the case of weak water/nanoparticle interactions. This result, which is qualitatively at odds with the predictions of isothermal classical nucleation theory, may be explained by the competition between two antagonist effects: while, classically, hydrophobicity increases the vapor nucleation rate, it also penalizes interfacial thermal transfer, slowing down kinetics. The kinetics of heat transfer from the nanoparticle to water is controlled by the interfacial thermal conductance. This quantity turns out not only to decrease with the nanoparticle hydrophobicity but also drops down prior to phase change, yielding even longer nucleation times. Such conclusions were reached by considering the comparison between MD and continuous heat transfer models. These results put forward the role of nanoparticle wettability in the generation of plasmonic nanobubbles observed experimentally and open the path to the control of boiling using nanopatterned surfaces.