OKLAHOMA CITY — In the closing seconds of a stunning Spurs conference finals takedown of the defending champion Thunder, Victor Wembanyama folded his 8-foot wingspan in half to grip the inside lining of his jersey, nearly ripping it in half in celebration.
On the other end of the floor, Wembanyama’s teammate Devin Vassell had just delivered an exclamation point dunk with 4.1 seconds left to finish a 111-103 Game 7 road win, sealing Wembanyama’s first trip to the NBA Finals five months after his 22nd birthday.
In the immediate aftermath, for nearly two minutes, Wembanyama screamed several times at the floor, broke down in tears, circled the area in front of the Spurs bench and alternated between hugging teammates and letting out euphoric yells.
There were no congratulatory meetings with the defeated opponent, only the celebration of an accomplishment he has long craved despite his relative NBA inexperience.
“Winning the Larry O’Brien, it’s a childhood dream,” Wembanyama said. “Having a real shot at it, having a chance, tangible chance at winning it, realizing a dream. … The day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day of a realization of a dream. It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
Wembanyama and the young Spurs are attempting to crash the championship party far quicker than history suggested feasible. San Antonio became the first Finals team with its two top scorers — Wembanyama and third-year guard Stephon Castle — age 22 or below and the second-youngest Finals team based on weighted minutes played, according to ESPN Research. The 1977 Portland Trail Blazers were the youngest.
“He has such a vision, in my opinion, of who he wants to be as a person and a player,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of Wembanyama. “The commitment and investment he puts in that vision is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
Wembanyama had plenty of help from a stunningly advanced supporting cast.
Castle, 21, has taken a star turn in these playoffs, averaging 19.2 points and 6.7 assists in the 18-game run to the Western Conference crown while also serving as the primary defender on Anthony Edwards and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the past two rounds.
Dylan Harper, the 20-year-old rookie drafted second 11 months ago, had 24 points in the critical Game 1 overtime win, scored 18 in 22 high-impact Game 6 bench minutes to push the Thunder to the brink and delivered a few crunch-time rebounds and a late 3 to push San Antonio over the top.
The Spurs will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, giving Harper, a New Jersey native, the chance of a lifetime in the infant stages of his career.
“My dream has been always to play in the Garden in the NBA Finals,” Harper said. “I get to do that my first year.”
De’Aaron Fox, the high-profile 2025 trade deadline addition that signaled the shifting direction of the previously rebuilding Spurs, had his most impactful game of the series in the clincher. Pushing through a high ankle sprain that forced him to miss the first two games, Fox had 15 points and three steals.
Luke Kornet, Wembanyama’s backup, had what Johnson called the play of the night. After Wembanyama committed his fifth foul with 7:50 left, Johnson subbed out Wembanyama for a brief stretch while the Spurs tried to protect a 97-91 lead.
In his first defensive possession on the floor, Kornet retreated after a Thunder steal and met Isaiah Hartenstein at the rim, blocking a transition layup and sparking a fast break the other way that led to a Castle pull-up, putting the Spurs up eight.
“I was so proud of him,” Wembanyama said. “So happy. That’s the definition of a winning play.”
This Spurs arrival on the grandest stage is about Wembanyama’s determination and ability to speed up the clock on a career he believes will become legendary.
The Spurs went 22-60 in Wembanyama’s rookie season, including an 18-game losing streak. Those were two facts that Spurs staffers were reminding each other about postgame.
In his second season, they improved to 34 wins, but Wembanyama’s season was cut short because of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. In advance of his third season, the talk around the Spurs was about a goal to make it back into the playoffs.
They succeeded loudly. San Antonio won 62 regular-season games, while Wembanyama won Defensive Player of the Year unanimously and finished third in MVP voting. The Spurs pushed the 64-win Thunder in the standings until the final week and have been viewed as their most threatening opponent for months.
Those predictions proved accurate. Wembanyama opened the series with a 41-point, 24-rebound masterpiece, which included a 28-footer to send Game 1 into overtime and a dominant extra session.
For the totality of the series, Wembanyama had 19 blocks, the most in a conference finals since Alonzo Mourning in 2005. He averaged 27.3 points and 10.9 rebounds in the seven games and pushed his minute total to 37.7 per night, getting all nine votes for West Finals MVP.
“I found resources inside of me,” Wembanyama said. “Relentlessness. I already knew that, but doing it at this level, I mean, this is the best basketball on the planet that’s being played right now.”
Including a 4-1 regular-season record, the Spurs defeated the Thunder eight times this season. The rest of the NBA defeated them only 14 times.
“They’re young. They’re talented. Well-coached. They play the right way, play together. Seems like they like each other. They have the makeup for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “You don’t beat us without the makeup. So they have the makeup to go get [a title].”
Game 1 is in San Antonio on Wednesday night. The Knicks went 2-1 against the Spurs this season, including a win for the NBA Cup title.
New York just rolled through the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Knicks have won 11 straight and swept their past two opponents, presenting a stiff challenge for Wembanyama and the Spurs, who will have to shake off the euphoria after just celebrating the elimination of the defending champs with flair.
“The crazy thing is, maybe I’m crazy, but I want to [feel] that 15-20 more times [in my career],” Wembanyama said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t become an addiction. … Maybe it already is.”
