NOW IN HIS third NBA season, San Antonio Spurs middle Victor Wembanyama has aged out of the Rising Stars competitors at All-Star weekend. That did not preserve the 7-foot-5 celebrity from imposing an outsized impression on final Friday’s festivities.
Spurs rookie Dylan Harper stood close to half court docket for tipoff of Sport 1 of the 2026 Rising Stars occasion, pushing and shoving New Orleans Pelicans middle Derik Queen for place as an official rushed over to intervene.
Queen lunged in response. Harper wasn’t having it.
Because the Pelicans’ rookie reached out to shove Harper together with his left arm, the Spurs’ guard grabbed it with a glance of disgust on his face and slammed it down, simply because the ball was tossed, displaying a aggressive fireplace not often seen at All-Star festivities — ignited by Wembanyama’s method to the occasions in Los Angeles.
A Spurs staffer joked later that Harper and teammates Stephon Citadel and Carter Bryant — all Rising Stars individuals — felt the Frenchman’s power on the flight to Los Angeles and reacted accordingly. Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards responded to Wembanyama’s depth as properly, saying the two-time All-Star “https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47978077/set the tone” for an All-Star Sport that was probably the most aggressive it had been in years.
“I’ve at all times thought to myself that if I used to be in [the All-Star Game], I am by no means stepping onto the court docket to lose or not [play hard],” Wembanyama mentioned earlier than the weekend. “I am pondering it is [not] OK to lose. I will be on the market. I would as properly win.”
Wembanyama and the Spurs plan to hold that very same mentality headed into the final 27 video games of the season on the hunt for the workforce’s first postseason berth since 2019. That quest resumed Thursday night time in a 121-94 “dwelling” win in Austin, Texas, towards the Phoenix Suns, nearly a 12 months to the day that desires of titles almost died within the metropolis of San Antonio.
On what sources described as a scary and emotional day stuffed with confusion throughout the group, information dropped final Feb. 20 that the Spurs could be shutting down Wembanyama for the remainder of the season after docs had recognized the younger star with deep vein thrombosis in his proper shoulder.
That devastating growth registered as one sliver of adversity in a 2024-25 NBA season chock stuffed with it. It began with Corridor of Fame coach Gregg Popovich struggling a stroke earlier than a sport not even 10 days into the season that left then-38-year-old assistant Mitch Johnson in cost. Later got here a sport postponement in January that left the Spurs milling about resort rooms in Santa Monica and later downtown Los Angeles, as soon as smoke from wildfires in Malibu and Pacific Palisades began to encroach their location.
Along with shutting down Wembanyama, the Spurs shelved commerce deadline acquisition De’Aaron Fox, who underwent season-ending surgical procedure final March to restore tendon harm in his gnarled left pinkie, leaving the workforce out of the playoffs for the sixth straight 12 months on the heels of a 34-48 end.
A season later, the Spurs maintain the league’s third-best document (39-16) and a 13-7 mark towards the NBA’s different 9 groups with successful percentages of .600 or higher (Detroit is the one workforce of this group San Antonio has but to face) headed into Saturday’s matchup towards the flailing Sacramento Kings on the Moody Middle on the campus of the College of Texas. The Spurs’ fast turnaround appears unbelievable — to everybody, that’s, besides Wembanyama.
“Not onerous to imagine, no,” he mentioned. “As a result of I’ve seen everyone put within the work. I’ve seen everyone sacrifice issues. [It’s] very plausible however does not imply it was straightforward by any means.”
WEMBANYAMA’S FIRST ALL-STAR weekend had not been significantly optimistic. San Antonio had misplaced 4 of six street video games headed into the break final 12 months, and Wembanyama’s schedule in San Francisco proved brutal. He had scored 11 factors on 5-of-7 taking pictures within the championship of the league’s mini-tournament that changed the standard All-Star Sport, although the trouble stage from the opposite gamers on the court docket left a lot to be desired.
Wembanyama mentioned he felt exhausted coming off the Spurs’ closing sport earlier than the All-Star break, a 116-103 loss to the Boston Celtics. He’d exhibited comparable signs at the beginning of the journey on Feb. 3 in Memphis, however he’d chalked it as much as a bug he had been making an attempt to combat off.
“I believe it performed aside, not 100% in fact,” Wembanyama mentioned after Thursday’s win over the Suns. “However I imply I used to be 21 and nonetheless studying, nonetheless rising my conditioning. So, it does not clarify all the things, however I believe it explains rather a lot. I used to be feeling very, very dangerous the few weeks earlier than I had prognosis.”
Whereas in Wyoming for a quick reprieve following All-Star weekend, Wembanyama began to really feel discomfort and swelling in his proper arm, and alerted the workforce’s medical employees. As soon as he returned, the employees ran him by means of a battery of assessments, which detected a blood clot. The prognosis despatched Wembanyama reeling, leaving him to ponder his mortality each on and off the court docket.
“I bear in mind the All-Star Sport final 12 months was the worst I had ever felt on a basketball court docket in my life as a result of, I imply, I had 5% perhaps of bloodflow in my proper arm,” Wembanyama mentioned.
In between taking blood-thinning remedy, visits to docs and grinding by means of a meticulous rehab routine, Wembanyama determined after enduring this expertise he described as “traumatic” that he’d embark on a journey to push himself bodily and mentally by means of unconventional means. Wembanyama additionally needed to ensure he was savoring most of the experiences that his superstardom afforded.
So, along with internet hosting a chess event at his court docket in Le Chesnay, France over the summer season, Wembanyama visited Costa Rica and Tokyo, the place he performed soccer. He frolicked at NASA’s Johnson Area Middle and spent 10 days at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China, soul-searching whereas training kung fu and meditation with monks.
Wembanyama additionally met with Corridor of Fame large males Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon to select their brains.
He would not formally play once more for the Spurs till the Oct. 6 preseason opener.
“It was actually only a unhappy time,” Johnson mentioned Wednesday, shortly after the workforce’s arrival in Austin. “There was a lot uncertainty. At first stage there was no basketball being mentioned. It was well being. It was well-being. It was actually a flat second for us. It was not lengthy after we acquired De’Aaron, and I believe they performed 5 video games collectively.”
It was sunny on the morning of the Wembanyama announcement with a brisk wind and temperatures hovering within the mid-30s. Spurs CEO R.C. Buford stood alone within the health club at Moody Middle in Austin watching because the gamers filed in for shootaround forward of a matchup towards the Suns. Each participant was accounted for apart from San Antonio’s tallest. Reporters requested questions instantly. The membership’s public relations employees disappeared into one other room to find out the way to finest ship the information it might reveal minutes later.
A 26-point efficiency by Fox that night time in solely his sixth sport with the workforce pushed San Antonio to a 120-109 win. Within the hallway leaving the world, Fox expressed remorse leaving Moody Middle headed towards the workforce bus.
“We have been able to hit the bottom operating and also you get information like that,” he mentioned. “It’s undoubtedly a tricky factor to beat due to the manufacturing he gave us.”
San Antonio would drop 19 of its final 30 video games, together with 11 of the 18 Fox sat out. Wembanyama would use the time away to rehab and replicate, earlier than embarking on a whirlwind summer season of transformation in preparation for this season.
JOHNSON FIRST JOINED San Antonio as an assistant in 2016 for the workforce’s Austin G League workforce the identical 12 months the Spurs drafted present Pelicans level guard Dejounte Murray with the twenty ninth decide.
Johnson had been working with Murray because the level guard was 15. So, as soon as the Spurs started vetting Murray, Johnson additionally caught the group’s eye due to his acumen as a coach and communicator.
“He will be a head coach on this league for a very long time,” Murray informed ESPN. “He is received the work ethic, the brains, the persistence. He performed the sport. He checks each field, man. He is not shy. He is snug in any room he is in. I nonetheless preserve involved [with Spurs players]. They love him.”
So did the group’s brass after watching how Johnson navigated the ups and downs of a chaotic season filling in for Popovich and main San Antonio by means of the maladies that pressured the early ends of the season for Wembanyama and Fox, even with no full complement of assistants. As soon as the 2024-25 season ended, the group felt assured, based on sources, in what Johnson would possibly have the ability to do with a full employees, a wholesome Fox and Wembanyama, and an offseason to implement his personal methods and magnificence of play.
The Spurs eliminated Johnson’s title of performing head coach in Might, naming him the franchise’s nineteenth coach whereas permitting him to fill out the employees of assistants led by affiliate head coach and defensive specialist Sean Sweeney.
All through all of the turbulent instances, courting to even earlier than Popovich suffered the stroke, Johnson had earned the belief of the gamers to teach them simply as onerous as his predecessor. Throughout a Spurs loss earlier this season in Memphis, the gravel-voiced Johnson screamed from the bench: “Get a f—ing rebound!”
“Pop saved it sincere,” mentioned ahead Keldon Johnson, the longest-tenured member of the Spurs who’s in his seventh season with the workforce. “And Mitch would at all times preserve it 100 with me, not sugarcoat it, inform me after I’m mistaken but in addition provide you with that reward. I really feel like that builds belief. He is earned that belief to have the ability to coach us, get on us and get the correct response and get us motivated.”
That has enabled the 39-year previous to teach in his first NBA All-Star occasion in his first full season as head coach. However Johnson says he believes none of his private success or the workforce’s would have been attainable had San Antonio not been crushed down by the making an attempt season of 2024-25.
“Final 12 months there was a lot, and it was new for me, unplanned or ready by me that I did not know something different than simply making an attempt to get by means of that day or what we have been going by means of,” Johnson mentioned.
DESPITE FINISHING FIVE video games out of the play-in race a season in the past, the group remained quietly assured in San Antonio’s means to compete with any workforce within the NBA. Sources throughout the group over the summer season pointed to Johnson’s unshakable management within the face of adversity as one purpose. However the larger purpose was the return of the workforce’s two stars, significantly the massive man on whom they’ve hung their hopes for the longer term. When the membership shut down Wembanyama final season, he was far and away the front-runner for NBA Defensive Participant of the Yr. Regardless of taking part in solely 46 video games, he nonetheless completed the season because the league’s chief in complete blocks. This season he has picked up the place he left off, averaging a career-high 24.4 factors whereas taking pictures 51.1% from the sphere and 36.3% from 3-point vary, each additionally the very best marks of his younger profession. And his chemistry with Fox, whom the Spurs acquired from Sacramento after he particularly mentioned he needed to play with Wembanyama, has been a lot improved. Wembanyama and Fox performed a complete of 120 minutes collectively final season over 5 video games with the Spurs, notching a web ranking over that span of minus-2.4. This season, when the duo is on the court docket collectively, San Antonio’s document is 22-9 with Wembanyama and Fox producing a web effectivity of plus-10.9 in 645 minutes, based on ESPN Analysis. Though the Spurs rank twenty ninth in on-ball screens and handoffs per 100 possessions, they common 1.25 factors per direct play when Wembanyama units an on-ball display or handoff for Fox, good for the fourth-best effectivity amongst combos to run 150 or extra performs collectively, based on GeniusIQ. Then, there’s the return and continued growth of Citadel, the 2024-25 NBA Rookie of the Yr. After taking pictures 42.8% a season in the past, he is as much as 46.4% this season, displaying improved effectivity with the identical variety of photographs per sport. Keldon Johnson, a contender for NBA Sixth Man of the Yr, and beginning small ahead Devin Vassell are getting into their primes at age 26 and 25, respectively. San Antonio’s 2025 draft picks — Harper at No. 2 and Bryant at No. 14 — are additionally contributing closely. Seemingly, many of the roster is, contemplating the Spurs’ rotation options 10 gamers who’ve performed 40-plus video games this season. San Antonio is certainly one of 4 groups which have had a minimum of 10 gamers play a minimum of 40 video games this season, together with the Utah Jazz, Miami Warmth and Boston Celtics, based on ESPN Analysis. The Spurs’ depth lightens the blow the membership absorbs within the non-Wembanyama minutes. On the All-Star break final season, San Antonio produced a web effectivity of minus-7.9 with Wenbanyama not on the court docket. This season, the Spurs’ web effectivity with out Wembanyama sits at plus-1.0. When Wembanyama sat out 12 video games due to a left calf pressure earlier this season, the Spurs went 9-3. “I do not imagine we’re forward of schedule in any respect,” Bryant mentioned. “I believe we will simply preserve rolling.” Pondering what lies forward over the subsequent 27 video games, Wembanyama appeared keen — nearly giddy — having led the Spurs to a document of 11-5 towards groups presently within the high six of the Western Convention. San Antonio has suffered solely three losses towards Jap Convention groups. “Just one solution to discover out,” he mentioned. “However similar to something, what’s gonna occur is gonna occur. There’s gonna be some good. There’s gonna be some dangerous. It is about how we react to all the things.” The Spurs have proven as a lot all season, bouncing again from a disastrous 2024-25 marketing campaign that ultimately left Wembanyama soul-searching and the group’s brass over the summer season pondering the membership’s subsequent strikes. However by means of all of it, Mitch Johnson stays satisfied San Antonio would not be right here now with out these arduous experiences. “I do suppose now, and I believe in all probability extra as time goes on, [last season] in all probability served as a car for this workforce to be as shut as we’re,” Johnson mentioned. “We have had a whole lot of distinctive, uncommon experiences. We have had some issues that produce a whole lot of time collectively and so they produce occasions that usually stir or produce conversations, and perhaps a little bit bit extra deeper conversations; issues that make you replicate on life or belongings you’ve [gone] by means of. So, I do suppose it is performed a component on this group’s journey regardless that it is not essentially instantly involving basketball.”
