How Victor Wembanyama Can Keep Leading Spurs As They Try to Replicate Success

SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama has never been shy about where he wants his career to take him. Everyone in the San Antonio Spurs' locker room knows it.

“He wants to be the best player ever,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said, "which is a crazy statement ... (but) he’s never done anything that puts himself above the team. Ever.”

Three seasons into Wembanyama’s NBA career, San Antonio has seen plenty of evidence supporting both halves of Johnson’s assessment. The 7-foot-4 Frenchman has quickly established himself among the league's premier players, even at 22 years old.

Most notably, Wembanyama has earned two All-Star selections, two All-Defensive First Team selections, an All-NBA First Team selection and the 2026 Defensive Player of the Year Award while leading the league in blocks in each of his first three seasons.

Last year represented his biggest step yet. Wembanyama averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.1 blocks on 51 percent shooting across 64 regular-season appearances while making a push for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award. In his first postseason, he averaged 23.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 3.5 blocks across 22 games.

“He can literally do anything that you could possibly ask for,” De’Aaron Fox said.

Jun 13, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks the ball during Game 5 against the New York Knicks of the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Spurs experienced a similar leap collectively. After years spent rebuilding around Wembanyama, San Antonio reached the NBA Finals as the third-youngest team in league history to do so, but its run ended against the New York Knicks in five games, leaving Wembanyama with nearly 100 days to contemplate what went wrong before training camp.

"I'm not satisfied with not winning," Wembanyama said after Game 5 at Frost Bank Center, "but as I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there's no better experience than what we just lived ... This has been a hell of a year in terms of experience."

Wembanyama acknowledged the Spurs’ margin for error had become increasingly thin as they advanced deeper into the postseason. Against New York, mistakes they had previously overcome became decisive, which didn't sit right with him.

“Our errors, our mistakes," Wembanyama began, "are punished so hard that we can’t have ups and downs like this. The ups are OK. The downs (are) the reason we lost.”

That perspective becomes increasingly important as Wembanyama enters his fourth season. San Antonio is no longer attempting to prove its young core is capable of winning.

After reaching the Finals, the challenge becomes sustaining the habits that got it there, and Wembanyama has positioned himself to take an even larger role.

“That young man has a rare desire to step into every moment that’s in front of him,” Johnson said after Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. “He has some rare, God-given ability. He puts in even more work and preparation into maximizing that.”

Jun 13, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) grabs his leg after he dunks the ball during the third quarter during Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Wembanyama signed a five-year, $252 million rookie maximum extension in July that will keep him in San Antonio through the 2031-32 season, but rather than pursue additional money via the Rose Rule — which could have increased his starting salary from 25 to 30 percent of the salary cap — he chose to preserve additional financial flexibility for the Spurs.

For a franchise attempting to turn one Finals appearance into sustained contention, the decision provided another example of the mentality Johnson described.

Wembanyama’s individual résumé will continue to grow if his first three seasons are any indication, but after experiencing his first postseason and its abrupt ending, Year 4 presents an opportunity for his leadership role within San Antonio to grow with it.

“I don’t think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one playoff run and in one season,” Wembanyama said. “It’s been hard and full of lessons.”

Those lessons will become increasingly important as the Spurs attempt to prove last season wasn’t an anomaly. Wembanyama was direct after Game 5 about how he planned to handle the pain of falling short, insisting he wasn’t satisfied simply reaching the NBA Finals.

“I’m not running away from that,” Wembanyama said. “I’m using that to fuel me."

Replicating last season’s success will require more than Wembanyama replicating his numbers. Entering his fourth season, it will also require him to use everything he learned during his first run through the postseason to help show the Spurs how to do it again.

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