Victor Wembanyama didn’t need a long speech to frame the San Antonio Spurs’ goals entering the 2026-27 NBA season. Two words did the job.
At NBA Media Day, the Spurs star was asked about the team’s approach, and he gave a blunt answer that matched the ceiling of a roster built to contend. As Jared Weiss of The Athletic reported, Wembanyama said, “This is a great spot.
We’re hungry, we’re ambitious. I couldn’t imagine a better motivation,”
That mindset fits the group around him. San Antonio has a core that includes Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and Devin Vassell, plus coach Mitch Johnson, who has inherited key team-building values from Gregg Popovich. The article also points to the Spurs’ trust-and-sacrifice identity, highlighted by their star’s max-contract pay cut.
Wembanyama expanded on the challenge in front of them, saying, “We’re fighting for the top spot of the mountain. We’re going to have to move people in our way.
That’s just the way it is. So I take it as a great sign of respect as well,”
The expectations around San Antonio go well beyond one player. Johnson is currently viewed as the second-favorite to win NBA Coach of the Year, behind Rick Carlisle of the Indiana Pacers.
Harper is sitting just behind Alex Caruso in early NBA Sixth Man of the Year projections. Castle leads the race for NBA Most Improved Player, ahead of Cason Wallace and Amen Thompson.
And Wembanyama is seen as the favorite for both NBA MVP and NBA DPOY.
The bigger picture, at least on paper, is a team with enough talent to become a dominant force. The Spurs are built around Wembanyama, listed at seven-foot-six and described as a near-unstoppable offensive weapon and an immovable defensive presence, with a young supporting cast still early in its career.
The projections for Wembanyama only add to the buzz. Basketball Reference’s Per 36 numbers for 2026-27 list him at 29.1, .507, .357, .830, 4.1, 13.4, 3.9, 1.3, 3.2, 20.2, .192. When those numbers are translated into per-game production, the trajectory suggests even more growth than Spurs fans saw in 2025-26.
The article notes that if Johnson keeps Wembanyama at 29.2 minutes per game, the improvements should still show up in key areas, including three-point percentage, free throw percentage, assists, steals, and blocks. Even if some of those gains are modest, they could still be worth two or more wins compared to the Spurs’ previous standing.
For San Antonio, the mission is simple enough to say and hard enough to pull off: stay “hungry” and “ambitious” all season long, then see whether that edge can carry them to their first Larry O'Brien trophy since Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich were in charge.
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Wembanyama Still Sounds Shaken By What The Knicks Did In June
Junes Finals still seem to linger for Victor Wembanyama, and for the Knicks that says plenty about how thoroughly they handled San Antonio on the biggest stage. New York beat the Spurs in five games to win the 2026 NBA Finals, and the aftermath has apparently been just as difficult for the losing side as the series itself was for the winner.
Wembanyama has already made clear the defeat hit him hard, and the Spurs are trying to turn that pain into fuel as they head toward 2026-27 with a young core and a few veteran additions. For San Antonio, the challenge now is less about moving on quickly than making sure the disappointment is fully absorbed before they try to climb back to the top. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Camp Battle Is Suddenly Tilting Toward Bruce Brown
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Brown has started to separate himself in the early read of the situation, helped by the championship rsum that comes with him and the way the front office appears to view him. The catch is that roster math can still change everything, and with cap concerns hanging over the final decisions, the Knicks may not be able to carry as many of these camp invites as the competition suggests. [Read more 🡒]