The San Antonio Spurs are going to the NBA Finals.
Victor Wembanyama scored 22 points, pulled down seven rebounds, and hit three three-pointers as the Spurs beat Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in a winner-takes-all WCF Game 7. In his second professional season, the French centre has led San Antonio back to the sport’s biggest stage for the first time since 2014. Twelve years. A dynasty that retired. A rebuild. And now this.
Game 7
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gave Oklahoma City everything he had. The Thunder guard finished with a game-high 35 points and nine assists. In any other context, from any other player, in any other Game 7, that output would have been enough. Against a Spurs roster playing its best basketball of the season, it was not.
San Antonio spread the scoring across the lineup. Julian Champagnie hit six three-pointers and finished with 20 points. Stephon Castle added 16. De’Aaron Fox contributed 15. When the final buzzer sounded, the Spurs had seven players in double figures and a 111-103 scoreline.
Wembanyama was named Western Conference Finals Most Valuable Player after averaging 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.7 blocks across the series. Those are not the numbers of a player learning his trade. Those are the numbers of the best player in the Western Conference Finals.
What this means for San Antonio
The Spurs’ last Finals appearance was in 2014, when they beat the Miami Heat in five games with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili providing the core. That group retired. In the years that followed, the Western Conference belonged to Golden State, then Denver, then Oklahoma City. San Antonio watched and waited.
Wembanyama was drafted first overall in 2024. In year one, the Spurs improved. In year two, they have reached the NBA Finals. For a franchise in rebuild mode, the pace of the turnaround is fast. For a player of Wembanyama’s level, perhaps it is not surprising.
For Oklahoma City
SGA’s 35-point performance in a losing Game 7 stands as one of the great individual efforts in a WCF elimination game. The Thunder built something substantial over the past three years. This exit hurts, but it does not erase what they have built, and they will be back.
The Finals matchup
The New York Knicks, who swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, await San Antonio. This is a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, the series in which the Spurs won in five games for their first championship.
The number that matters most going into the Finals: 2.7 blocks per game from Wembanyama across the WCF. The Knicks will look to attack the paint. They will find someone waiting at the rim.
Game 1 tips off on June 3. The Spurs host in San Antonio.
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