Victor Wembanyama Is Becoming an OKC Thunder Villain

Oklahoma City has as passionate of a fanbase as you can have. The city rallies around their lone professional sports franchise like few others can or do. Typically, it is a very positive local fanbase embracing their team through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows –– of which there have been very few –– but there have been a few players to etch their name into OKC Thunder lore as a deeply disliked Villain.

The question to get on that short list? San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

After a few vailed shots at the Bricktown Ballers and three straight wins against the Thunder, Wembanyama was showered in boos on Tuesday night, even hearing a rare expletive from the Bible belt faithful along the way.

“I heard one ‘f--k you,’” Wembanyama laughed. “Just one...I think it has been more than that in other places.”

This type of distain from Oklahoma City is rare. Kevin Durant's betrayal earned him more hate than anyone who has stepped foot into the Paycom Center. Patrick Beverley's reckless plunge at Russell Westbrook made a bit role player one of the most hated players in the sport in the eyes of Oklahoma City. Though, there is a different category of villains, one that isn't born out of traditional hatred but rather respect. That is where Wembanyama falls.

When Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and now Wembanyama get booed. It is born from nothing malicious they have done to this organization or fanbase. But rather out of respect for just how dominate they are. It is a role that the Spurs stare isn't fazed by. He has heard worse.

“When you talk about hostile, I don’t think it gets more hostile than [Panathinaikos],” Wembanyama explained. "There’s some teams in Europe that rely almost entirely on the crowd. There’s a team called Le Portel in France, they’ve got some of the best fans in the league. It’s a team that would not be what it is without their fans.”

This is a healthy rivalry that will help the NBA captivate a casual audience and fill the void left behind by the lack of true healthy hatred in the modern era.

These two teams can duck and dodge around the fact they are rivals and shower each other in respect post game, the bottom line remains their emotion on the court tells a different story. These two sides clearly get up for this matchup and look forward to facing off with one another. That added juice, mixed with the outside narrative and the fanbases distain for each other, makes this a rivalry