Victor Wembanyama Makes Bold Statement After Reaching His First NBA Finals
Don’t you love it when a Game 7 delivers?
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder met at Paycom Center to decide the Western Conference Finals on Saturday night.
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played like the back-to-back reigning NBA MVP, scoring a game-high 35 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the field and dishing nine assists. Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, impacted the game in multiple ways, and his star-studded supporting cast showed up in a way Gilgeous-Alexander’s didn’t.
In the end, the Spurs prevailed, 111-103, to vanquish the Thunder’s bid to become the NBA’s first repeat champion since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. As the buzzer sounded, Wembanyama was overcome by emotion. He won the Western Conference Finals MVP and, later, explained where his tears came from.
Wembanyama began his postgame presser by saying, “Winning the Larry O’Brien [Trophy], it’s a childhood dream, and having a real shot at it - having a chance, a tangible chance at winning it and realizing a dream, you know? It’s a chance. It’s a lifetime chance. You never know when it’s gonna happen again. The day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s gonna be an amazing day of the realization of a dream. It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
Later in his presser, Wembanyama said, “I’m most excited about feeling what I felt when that buzzer went off again and again and again and even more. You work - all these hours you put in, it’s for these types of emotions. I want to win so bad. It’s like my life depends on it.”
The Spurs have had to wait 12 years to return to the NBA Finals. Their last appearance resulted in a championship, as they defeated the Miami Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals. This time, it’ll be a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals between the Spurs and the New York Knicks.
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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 1:54 PM.