Shaquille O’Neal is sticking with the San Antonio Spurs, and he’s not exactly whispering it.
Asked on The Big Podcast with Shaq at Fanatics Fest for his pick to win the Western Conference next season, O’Neal went straight to San Antonio over Oklahoma City. His reasoning came down to one thing: Victor Wembanyama.
“I’mma go with the Spurs over the Thunder,” O’Neal said. “… Because it’s a matchup problem with Victor Wembanyama when he plays the right way.
So they are neck and neck. They’re very similar, but I think if Victor can dominate three out of four games in any playoff series, I’mma always go with the Spurs.”
That’s a strong endorsement, especially considering what Wembanyama just did in the 2026 Western Conference Finals. The Spurs knocked off the 64-18 Thunder in seven games after finishing 62-20 themselves, and Wembanyama was the best player on the floor. He put up 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.7 blocks per game in the series and took home Western Conference Finals MVP.
At that point, everything seemed lined up for San Antonio. O’Neal had already called the 22-year-old the first perfect big man in NBA history earlier in the postseason, and the Spurs were rolling.
Then came the NBA Finals, and the whole thing unraveled. San Antonio entered the series as the favorite against the New York Knicks, but the Spurs made too many costly mistakes and lost in five games.
History doesn’t exactly help San Antonio’s case for a quick return. The last team to lose in the Finals and make it back the following season was the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.
Still, there are reasons to think the Spurs could break that trend. The Western Conference looks softer than the East for the first time in a long while, and Oklahoma City appears to be the main team standing in San Antonio’s way.
The Spurs had the Thunder’s number in 2025-26. They went 4-1 against them in the regular season, then beat them 4-3 in the conference finals.
Jalen Williams said Wembanyama was the reason Oklahoma City had so much trouble. The Thunder simply didn’t have a real answer for him, and Chet Holmgren struggled badly in the series.
That said, the Thunder weren’t at full strength. Williams and Ajay Mitchell each played only three of the seven games, so a healthier Oklahoma City team could make things much tighter next time around.
Even so, the rest of the West doesn’t look especially threatening. If the Minnesota Timberwolves had landed James, they might have had a case, but he ended up with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Los Angeles Lakers, his former team, are viewed by some inside the building as having taken a step back. There are holes all over the conference.
So while the Spurs’ Finals loss makes a repeat trip feel like a long shot on paper, O’Neal clearly sees a path. In his view, another Spurs-Thunder showdown in the Western Conference Finals would not be a surprise at all.
O’Neal also had a message for Wembanyama after the Finals defeat. He praised him earlier in the playoffs, but once the title series ended, his tone shifted.
“I say this with respect about Wemby,” O’Neal said. “As good as he is, he’s going to need to get stronger. Because when you become a dominant big man, people are going to force, and a lot of times he couldn’t handle that… I don’t know what he’s going to do this summer, but he definitely needs to get in that weight room and get stronger.”
Wembanyama appears to have taken that seriously. He’s been working in the gym, according to a video shared on July 25, 2026.
He also made a major financial move this summer, taking a $51 million pay cut to sign a five-year, $252 million extension.
The Spurs haven’t made a splashy offseason overhaul, though. Their biggest addition so far has been Tobias Harris on a two-year, $31 million deal. Whether that quiet summer matters will become clear later, but for now O’Neal is betting San Antonio still has enough to get back to the top of the West.
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