Victor Wembanyama has already crossed the line from promising young star to something much bigger. At 22, the San Antonio Spurs center has turned the hype from his No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft into real production, and his rise has pushed the Spurs from a rebuilding team into a legitimate championship contender.
Dwyane Wade thinks that still might be selling Wembanyama short.
The three-time NBA champion said he wants the Spurs star’s career to be remembered on a far grander scale than simple stardom. “I want Wemby to be so great..
Like, I want him to win five, six, whatever, how many rings, or Finals MVPs, and regular season MVPs,” Wade said. “Like, I want to live and say I saw that.”
That kind of praise matters coming from Wade, who shared the floor with and competed against Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Tim Duncan. When he talks about Wembanyama in those terms, it says plenty about how the basketball world views the French phenom’s ceiling.
And Wembanyama keeps backing up the buzz. His 2025-26 season only sharpened the spotlight around him.
He won Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league in blocked shots for a third straight season. San Antonio finished 62-20 in the regular season, then rode that momentum through the Western Conference playoffs and all the way to the NBA Finals, where the Spurs fell to the New York Knicks.
Even with just three NBA seasons behind him, Wembanyama’s résumé is already packed: two All-Star nods, a Defensive Player of the Year trophy, and All-NBA recognition among the league’s elite.
If San Antonio keeps building around that Finals run, the next conversation around Wembanyama may not be about potential at all. It may be about whether he’s already forcing his way into the league’s best-player debate.
In Other News...
Spurs Arena Push Just Cleared A Hurdle With Big Stakes
The Spurs push for a new downtown arena cleared an important political hurdle this week when the San Antonio city council declined to reopen the $489 million funding question for a public vote. The project remains a major civic undertaking, with the Spurs planning to cover $500 million of the $1.3 billion price tag while the city and county handle the rest, keeping the focus on how quickly the franchise and local leaders can turn a long-discussed vision into something concrete.
Spurs CEO RC Buford backed the councils decision and framed the arena process as one that can now keep moving forward on a long runway. The club is still targeting a 2029 start to construction and a 2032 opening, a timeline that gives the organization room to keep working through the financing and planning details while the rest of the basketball operation carries on, including Victor Wembanyamas new role as captain of the French national team ahead of World Cup qualifying. [Read more 🡒]
DeMar DeRozans Denver Move Could Create A New Spurs Opening
DeMar DeRozan is headed to Denver on a one-year deal, according to NBA senior insider Chris Haynes, and the move is already being picked apart for what it says about the Nuggets' current construction. DeRozan brings real scoring value and a long track record as a halfcourt shot-maker, but the fit questions are easy to see when you look at a roster that still has to balance its offense with the demands of the Western Conference.
For San Antonio, the more interesting layer is what this kind of veteran swing can mean around the league as teams keep chasing short-term answers. Denver is trying to add another established name to its mix, but this is the sort of deal that can also sharpen the pressure on a roster if the pieces do not naturally complement each other, and the Spurs know that kind of ripple effect can reshape the market even when they are not the team making the move. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Have No Reason To Bail Out Houston In Kevin Durant Talk
A speculative Kevin Durant trade proposal making the rounds online has prompted fresh debate around the Spurs long-term direction, but theres little reason for San Antonio to treat it as anything more than background noise. The idea has Houston trying to reshape its roster around Durant and Fred VanVleet, with draft capital in the mix, while the Spurs would be asked to part with DeAaron Fox and Keldon Johnson in return, a swap that immediately raises the question of why San Antonio would volunteer for it.
The answer, at least from the Spurs side, is that they probably wouldnt. San Antonio has been operating with real roster stability and has already shown it can hang near the top of the league on both ends of the floor, which makes the upside of a dramatic swing look limited rather than tempting. Until either team does something more than let a rumor circulate, this remains exactly what it started as - a theoretical deal that says more about Houstons search for a path forward than it does about San Antonios need to help make one. [Read more 🡒]