Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs are making their voices heard as title contenders this season.
Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle brings an authoritative voice to the topic of title contenders.
He won an NBA championship as a player with the Boston Celtics, as a coach with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, led the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2024 and the NBA Finals in 2025.
Trust him when he says the San Antonio Spurs are “one of the small handful that’s a legit championship contender. That’s obvious. They’re mowing people down, and I don’t think it’s a secret anymore.”
Led by young star forward-center Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs are among the best – and hottest teams – in the NBA. They own the highest winning percentage (.775) since Jan. 1 at 31-9, including 23 victories in their past 25 games.
At 55-18 overall, they are just three games behind the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the top seed in the Western Conference – and the Spurs have beaten the Thunder in four of five matchups this season.
San Antonio, a playoff team for the first time since 2019, ranks third defensively, fourth offensively, and second in net rating. The Spurs are close to locking up the No. 2 seed in the West and are not letting Oklahoma City ease its way to the No. 1 seed.
“We’ve had a positive year to this point, but we have not played enough games together to really know what to expect any night,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We’re putting our energy into some good places, but we have to continue to focus on ourselves. There’s so much improvement to be had.”
That last comment from Johnson, who replaced Spurs iconic coach Gregg Popovich after Popovich stepped aside following a stroke and health issues last season, wasn’t meant as a warning to the rest of the league. It was an honest assessment of a talented but young team that has never played together in the playoffs.
But the implication is clear, and it’s a worrisome prospect for other teams: The Spurs are back and plan on sticking at or near the top for a while with the roster they have built centered around the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama and his supernatural skillset.
Wembanyama gives Spurs a ‘very special advantage’
Whether the Spurs – who were 34-48 last season and without Wembanyama after the All-Star Game due to a blood clot in his right shoulder – are ahead of schedule or right on time makes no difference. You get there when you get there, and the Spurs have arrived.
In his third season, Wembanyama is a Kia MVP candidate and headed for what could be the first of multiple Kia Defensive Player of the Year awards. He averages 24.2 points, 11.2 rebounds, three assists, 3.1 blocks, 1.1 steals and shoots 50.5% overall, 35.1% on 3-pointers, and 81.8% on free throws.
A suffocating and imposing spider-web of limbs, quickness, strength, and versatility, Wembanyama is a defensive menace. The Spurs allow just 103.5 points per 100 possessions, and they are 16.7 points per 100 possessions better when he’s in the game vs. when he’s not.
He opened the season with a 40-point, 15-rebound, three-block performance in 30 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks, and the Spurs have been rolling since. With improved playmaking and shotmaking, Wembanyama’s offense is getting more difficult to defend.
The Association discusses Victor Wembanyama’s case for Kia MVP this season.
“It’s a huge part of his growth,” Johnson said. “He’s really embraced that, understanding how he can dominate the game and create advantages for others whether that’s screening, passing, spacing. The defense at some point has to commit to taking away something, and depending on what that is and what they do, it presents him with an opportunity because he is so skilled and so dominant in so many ways.”
The praise for Wembanyama is widespread and extraordinary. “He’s as unique as any player I can remember,” Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman said.
Carlisle offered: “There’s never been a player like him in the history of the game, that has that kind of impact on both ends. It gives them a very special advantage.”
Just before the Spurs demolished the Miami Heat 136-111 on Monday, NBA analyst Brian Scalabrine said, “I think Wembanyama is the most impactful player I’ve ever seen. Every possession he’s on the floor, you have to deal with him.”
In a phone interview, Scalabrine expanded, comparing Wembanyama’s production to the game-changing effect Stephen Curry had on the NBA with 3-point shooting.
“Wembanyama is on the precipice of breaking the NBA, and everybody in the NBA knows it,” Scalabrine said of the Frenchman’s elite two-way talent. “They’re not admitting it yet. And I think maybe they’re hoping and praying what we all think is going to happen doesn’t happen.”
Wembanyama addressed the MVP discussion after Monday’s Heat game. Wrapped in a tight and intriguing MVP race with Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Los Angeles Lakers forward-guard Luka Dončić, and Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, Wembanyama said, “Right now, there is a debate. There should be, even though I think I should lead the race. And to make sure that until the end of the season, there’s no debate anymore.”
Spurs don’t ‘skip steps’ in emergence
Championship-caliber teams require a star, if not a generational player. The Spurs have one, and they are not a one-man show:
- Guard De’Aaron Fox is an All-Star and averages 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals and shoots 48.6% from the field.
- Guard Stephon Castle, the 2024-25 Kia Rookie of the Year, is an All-Defensive candidate and averages 16.5 ppg, 7.1 apg, 5 rpg and 1.2 spg, and is often guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
- Guard-forward Devin Vassell averages 14.1 ppg and shoots 38.7% on 3s.
- Forward-guard Keldon Johnson, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, averages 13 ppg and 5.5 rpg while shooting 53% overall and 37.6% on 3-pointers.
- Rookie guard Dylan Harper is at 11.5 ppg, 3.9 apg, and 3.4 rpg on 49.5% shooting.
- Forward Julian Champagnie (11.1 ppg) and veteran forward Harrison Barnes (10.3 ppg) round out eight Spurs averaging double figures in points.
And the ages: Wembanyama, 22; Fox, 28; Castle, 21; Vassell, 25; Johnson, 26; Harper, 20; Champagnie, 24; rookie Carter Bryant, 20.
Harrison Barnes and center-forward Luke Kornet bring championship experience, having won titles with the Warriors (Barnes in 2015) and the Celtics (Kornet in 2024).
The Spurs’ celebrated infrastructure from its sprawling championship era of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s remains. Longtime Spurs executive RC Buford is CEO of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, and Popovich, the Hall of Fame coach with five NBA titles and three Coach of the Year awards, is the Spurs’ president of basketball operations.
There have been changes to the coaching staff and front office, but the Spurs’ ethos permeates. Keldon Johnson was drafted with the 29th pick in the 2019 draft, underscoring the Spurs’ intent to find valuable players late in the draft while hitting on lottery picks (Wembanyama, Castle, Harper), as well as on wise free-agent signings and trades to help build a contender.
Mitch Johnson was on Popovich’s staff as an assistant and has made an excellent transition to the top coaching job. Popovich’s influence is undeniable, but Johnson, a Coach of the Year candidate, is also shaping the Spurs in his vision with pace, passing, free-throw rate and guiding Wembanyama toward superstardom.
“We couldn’t skip steps to get where we are at,” Keldon Johnson said. “It really means something to me. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else and do it anywhere else than here.
“It’s almost like a dream come true to work through all the mishaps and work through the process and see the outcome and knowing that we’re still going and still striving for greatness and still trying to reach the next level. This is a special group that we have.”
Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
