Victor Wembanyama is now listed at 7-feet-4 — an inch taller than his listed height last season — but that might still be shortchanging him. When the 7-foot-4 Boban Marjanovic has stood next to Wembanyama, Marjanovic has had to look up at him. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that the San Antonio Spurs star “might be approaching 7-7.”
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this information. Is Wembanyama growing a few more inches any more preposterous than this?
Or this?
Look, there are real basketball questions to be asked of the 2025-26 Spurs. Can they space the floor well enough for their many playmakers to see driving lanes? How will their young guards coexist with De’Aaron Fox? The story here, though, is that their 7-foot-something franchise player is entering Year 3 and anything seems possible. Could you imagine him averaging something like 30 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and six stocks? Sure. Would it be that shocking if he became the youngest MVP winner ever? Not really. Is he already such a force on both ends that the Spurs are going blow past their projected win total and win a playoff series or two? I mean, I don’t think that should be the expectation, but I can see it.
The State of Play
Last year: In the 1,152 minutes that Wembanyama played next to Chris Paul, the Spurs outscored opponents by 6.3 points per 100 possessions. Paul played all 82 games in his age-39 season, but, six weeks after turning 21 (and four days after appearing in his first All-Star Game), Wembanyama was ruled out for the remainder of the season because of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. This meant that the budding superstar played only 120 minutes over five games with Fox, whom San Antonio acquired from the Kings in early February with Jordan McLaughlin in exchange for Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Sidy Cissoko, three first-round picks and three second-round picks. Fox had season-ending surgery on his finger in March, and the Spurs finished the season 34-48.
The offseason: San Antonio moved up from No. 8 to No. 2 in the lottery, a gift from the basketball gods that allowed the team to draft Dylan Harper. It then used the No. 14 pick to draft Carter Bryant, who earned lots of attention for his lockdown defense at summer league. In free agency, the Spurs signed Luke Kornet away from the Celtics on a four-year, $40.7 million contract that descends year by year and includes a team option on the final season. They signed Fox to a four-year max extension (no option), signed Lindy Waters III to a minimum deal and re-signed McLaughlin and Bismack Biyombo. They also traded Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley and a 2026 second-round pick to Washington for Kelly Olynyk. Paul left for the Clippers and Sandro Mamukelashvili left for the Raptors.
Las Vegas over/under: 43.5 wins, per FanDuel Sportsbook
The Conversation
Spurs believer: Wembywembywembywembywembywemby.
Spurs skeptic: I beg your pardon?
Spurs believer: Wembywembywemby — oh, sorry, I was just watching Victor Wembanyama’s preseason highlights again. I guess I was in some sort of trance; I had no idea you were here. You’ve seen these clips, right? I can’t believe this brilliant French maniac is real. I feel like I’m watching a tree do ballet.
Spurs skeptic: Um, yeah. I’ve seen the clips. Breaking news: Wembanyama is awesome. But what do you make of the team the Spurs are building around him? To me, they’ve done an impressive job accumulating talent, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve prioritized fit. At some point, I’m guessing they’ll do for Wembanyama what the Bucks did for Giannis Antetokounmpo when Mike Budenholzer arrived: surround him with shooters so opponents can’t get away with packing the paint. I’m not mad at San Antonio for the De’Aaron Fox trade or the Dylan Harper pick, but I doubt they’d have done the former had they known they’d be able to do the latter.
Spurs believer: The Giannis comp is interesting. One big difference is that Wemby himself can be a floor spacer. Also, even when the Bucks were at their best, their spacing wasn’t quite pristine. Jrue Holiday didn’t shoot well from deep in any of their playoff runs, but he was unbelievable on defense and, along with Khris Middleton, got enough timely buckets for them to win a title. I think Fox is going to be a perfectly fine spot-up shooter in San Antonio, and the Spurs owe it to themselves to find out if Harper and Stephon Castle can develop into knockdown shooters. The way the league is going, you can’t have just one or two guys doing all the playmaking. It makes perfect sense that they’ve invested in several players who can create for themselves, create for others and get into the paint at will. Harper already looks like he belongs, by the way.
Spurs skeptic: It’s not just the guards, though. I thought Jeremy Sochan was a great pick at No. 9 a few years ago, but now I have no idea how he’s supposed to fit in San Antonio offensively. Keldon Johnson was on an upward trajectory for the first four years of his career, but it’s not that hard to figure out why his minutes have declined for the last two seasons — he shot 30% on spot-up 3s in 2024-25 and is best used as a slasher. If the preseason is any indication, Luke Kornet is going to be just as paint-bound as he was in Boston, rather than revisiting the stretch-5 role that he played earlier on. Carter Bryant does some extraordinary stuff on defense, but opposing teams are going to flat-out ignore him on offense. If I’m Mitch Johnson, I’m giving serious consideration to keeping Julian Champagnie in the starting lineup when Fox is healthy. The problem with that, though, is that then there’d be no shooters coming off the bench, unless Kelly Olynyk ends up being in the regular rotation.
Spurs believer: There are four points I need to make:
- You wouldn’t try to apply conventional baseball wisdom to Shohei Ohtani, would you? Admittedly, I don’t know much about baseball, but I know that Wemby, like Ohtani, is unprecedented. If he can shoot over anybody who’s defending him and turn a long 2 into a layup in one stride, how much space does he really need? And if he can hit 3s off pindowns with a release point in the sky, how much space will that open up for his teammates?
- You make it sound like the Spurs have zero shooting. Have you forgotten that Harrison Barnes and Devin Vassell A) exist and B) will be in the starting lineup? Champagnie is going to play a significant role, too, and Olynyk is going to be awesome for this offense because of his passing and dribble-handoff game, not just his shooting.
- Spacing isn’t everything. Even if it puts a cap on the halfcourt offense, San Antonio can still steamroll everybody by getting stops, scoring in transition and dominating the possession game.
- It’s OK if the pieces don’t fit perfectly! Wemby is 21; this is hardly a championship-or-bust season. I happen to think that the Spurs can win 50-plus games as presently constructed, but if I’m wrong virtually every other franchise would still want to trade places with them.
Spurs skeptic: Stop moving the goalposts! Of course other teams would love to be building around Wembanyama! What’s up for debate is the ability of the team Wembanyama plays for to make noise in 2025-26. Like everybody else, I am encouraged by how he played in the preseason. I like that Keldon Johnson said that Wembanyama is “on a mission.” It is easy, though, to get so excited about his limitless potential that you overlook the limits of his supporting cast. San Antonio was 23-29 when it announced he was done for the season in February, and I think it will be better than that this time around. If it’s going to make the huge leap you’re projecting, though, it probably needs to make some more moves.
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