Victor Wembanyama is heading to the NBA Finals in his third professional season, and the scary part is that this might be ahead of schedule.
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in a tense Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday, punching their ticket to face the New York Knicks for the championship.
Wembanyama finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, but the stat line barely captures what the 7-foot-4 Frenchman did to Oklahoma City’s offense. His defensive presence altered shots all night, and his ability to switch onto guards on the perimeter turned what should have been Thunder advantages into dead possessions.
How the Spurs Won Game 7
San Antonio controlled this game from the opening tip. The Spurs led for 92 percent of the contest, including a 12-point cushion with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter. Julian Champagnie poured in 20 points as the secondary scorer, and the Spurs’ bench outplayed Oklahoma City’s reserves in a game where depth proved more valuable than star power.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did everything he could to keep the Thunder alive. His 35 points and nine assists were a masterclass in individual effort, and Cason Wallace added 17 points, including 14 in a furious fourth-quarter push that trimmed the lead to six with just over two minutes remaining, according to ESPN’s live coverage of the game.
But Wembanyama and the Spurs had an answer for every run. When the Thunder cut it to six, Wembanyama hit a turnaround jumper from the elbow that effectively sealed the series. The crowd at the Frost Bank Center erupted in a way that San Antonio hadn’t heard since the Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard years.
A Historic Return
This is the Spurs’ first Finals appearance since 2014, when they dismantled the Miami Heat in five games to win their fifth championship. That team was the culmination of the Duncan-Manu Ginobili-Tony Parker dynasty, and the rebuild that followed was one of the most patient in NBA history.
The Spurs bottomed out intentionally, tanking their way to the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, which they used on Wembanyama. The gamble was enormous: franchise credibility, years of losing, and the assumption that a single generational talent could reverse everything. Three seasons later, the bet has paid off in the most emphatic way possible.
Head coach Mitch Johnson, in his first season leading the team after replacing Gregg Popovich, deserves significant credit. Johnson simplified the offensive scheme around Wembanyama’s versatility and built a defensive identity that ranked third in the league in efficiency during the regular season, as noted by CBS Sports in their series recap.
The Knicks Matchup
The Finals will pit Wembanyama against Jalen Brunson and the Knicks, who cruised through the Eastern Conference with a combination of half-court execution and suffocating defense. New York hasn’t won a championship since 1973, and the city’s hunger for a title matches San Antonio’s.
The chess match between Wembanyama’s length and the Knicks’ physical, grinding style should produce compelling basketball. New York’s strategy will likely center on forcing the Spurs into isolation situations away from their motion offense, while San Antonio will look to exploit the Knicks’ lack of a true rim protector.
What It Means for the League
The NBA will crown a new champion for the eighth consecutive season, the longest such streak in league history. That fact alone signals how dramatically the competitive landscape has shifted since the Golden State Warriors dynasty ended.
Wembanyama’s arrival in the Finals at 22 opens a window that could stay open for a decade. His skill set has no real historical comparison: a 7-4 frame with guard skills, elite shot-blocking, three-point range, and playmaking instincts that continue to expand each season. If the Spurs win, the conversation shifts from “generational talent” to “potential dynasty,” and the rest of the league will have to figure out how to respond.
For now, San Antonio celebrates. The Riverwalk is alive again, the silver and black is back on the biggest stage, and a 22-year-old from France is the reason.