Victor Wembanyama didn’t just arrive in the NBA. He pushed the league into a different direction.
At 22, fresh off the first Finals appearance of his young career, the French star is already changing the way teams build their rosters. The old perimeter-heavy obsession that took over the 2000s and 2010s is starting to give way again, and the reason is simple: franchises are chasing size.
The league once lived comfortably with double-big lineups. Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.
Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
Then basketball moved toward stretch forwards, spacing and smaller lineups, a trend that carried deep into the 2020s. Wembanyama’s rise has cracked that script.
The San Antonio Spurs made him the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, and anyone who had tracked his ascent understood the league was about to feel the ripple effect. One Finals run later, the frontcourt spending spree is impossible to miss.
Walker Kessler landed a four-year, $130 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the richest contracts ever given to a center without an All-Star appearance. The Lakers also sent two unprotected first-rounders and two first-round pick swaps to the Utah Jazz for the right to sign the 24-year-old.
Jock Landale got a one-year, $14 million deal from the Atlanta Hawks, who also drafted St. John’s big man Zuby Ejiofor even with Onyeka Okongwu already on the roster.
Mo Wagner, who has spent much of his career in a backup role, received $19 million over two years from the Brooklyn Nets after playing only 11.9 minutes per game for the Orlando Magic last season.
The Golden State Warriors also committed to size, giving Kristaps Porzingis a new two-year, $40 million deal after he played just 74 games over the previous two seasons combined.
And the Memphis Grizzlies, despite already having a 7-foot-5 anchor in Zach Edey, handed Quintin Post $30 million over three years, adding yet another 7-foot option to a frontcourt that may be built for the Western Conference grind.
San Antonio, meanwhile, isn’t standing still while everyone else scrambles for bigger bodies.
On the opening night of the 2026 NBA Draft, the Spurs added Jayden Quaintaince and Tarris Reed Jr., two physical frontcourt pieces who should fit alongside Wembanyama in a double-big setup.
The comparison to Stephen Curry after his first Finals run in 2015 is hard to ignore. Wembanyama’s rise has already altered the way professional basketball in the United States is being played.
The days of tossing 6-foot-6 Draymond Green or 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker into the five spot are gone.
Teams are going to keep trying to answer Wembanyama by getting bigger, longer and stronger up front. The twist is that the Spurs may already be living in that future.
Reed and Quaintance give San Antonio two young, physical pieces who can handle matchups, help on the glass and let Wembanyama roam as a sort of free-safety-type defender. That’s the real shift here: he hasn’t just forced the league to game-plan for him, he’s given the Spurs a way to build around him.
The NBA spent years shrinking the floor and speeding everything up. Now, because of one 7-foot-4 anomaly in San Antonio, it may be thinking big again.
In Other News...
Spurs Missed On A Dream Target For One Frustrating Reason
The Spurs spent part of the offseason chasing a forward they believed could have fit neatly into their frontcourt plans, with Rui Hachimura drawing interest from San Antonio and several other teams before the market settled. Golden State, Minnesota and Brooklyn were also in the mix, a reminder that Hachimura had plenty of options as he weighed his next move.
San Antonio ultimately had to pivot after missing out, and the answer came in the form of veteran forward Tobias Harris, a steadier addition who helps address the same area of need. The Spurs would have liked to land Hachimura and keep building around a younger, more versatile look, but the search for frontcourt help did not end with one swing. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Send Tarris Reed Jr. A Tough Message Right Away
Tarris Reed Jr. already has a clear early-career assignment in San Antonio, and it has little to do with putting up points. The Spurs took Reed alongside Jayden Quaintance in the 2026 NBA Draft, bringing in the former UConn and Michigan big man with the expectation that his value will come from defense, rebounding and a physical presence around the basket.
In Summer League, coach Corliss Williamson made the message plain: Reeds lane is the gritty stuff, not a featured offensive role. For a Spurs roster that already has plenty of scoring to go around, the rookie will need to earn his way by doing the dirty work and showing he can hold up in the details, with a chance to push into the regular rotation if those traits translate once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Face A Lineup Decision That Could Disrupt Their Chemistry
The Spurs are staring at one of those early offseason choices that can quietly shape everything else, and it centers on the starting power forward spot. Tobias Harris brings the kind of veteran rsum that usually makes a coach think twice, while Julian Champagnie has already shown he can fit cleanly alongside the rest of San Antonios core.
Champagnies case is rooted in how well the Spurs looked with him in the first unit, where the group around De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama clicked at a high level. Harris still has value, especially as a scorer who could change the tone of a second unit, but the bigger question for San Antonio is whether it keeps the chemistry it found or makes room for experience at the expense of continuity. [Read more 🡒]