How Victor Wembanyama could fit the San Antonio Spurs

Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 dynamic forward who is this year’s top rated NBA prospect, cheered with his family in France as the San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 lottery on Tuesday night. In San Antonio, perhaps understandably, fans celebrated like they’d won a championship, yelling into bars and honking horns.

An ESPN reporter who interviewed Wembanyama on television shortly after the Spurs won the lottery pretended that the draft, which is next month, had already happened. “What are the San Antonio Spurs getting in Victor Wembanyama?” asked the reporter.

Typically, athletes in these situations try to dismiss the idea that they will be the No. 1 pick and deflect with responses about being happy with whatever team they select and how grateful they will be to be called up in the first place.

But not Wembanyama, and frankly, why should he? He’s not a typical conscript, nor would he pretend to be one. He didn’t budge. He had a clear answer about what he could be for the Spurs.

“A team player,” he said, adding, “I’m trying to win a ring as soon as possible, so be prepared.”

Here’s what you need to know about the Spurs and Wembanyama, the 19-year-old star of French professional team Metropolitans 92.

France and the Spurs have a long and successful relationship.

Tony Parker and Boris Diaw are two of the best basketball players from France to ever play in the NBA, and they both won championships with the Spurs under coach Gregg Popovich.

The Spurs drafted Parker with the 28th pick in the 2001 draft. He spent 17 seasons with the team, winning four titles and will be the first French player to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, with the ceremony scheduled for August. Parker posted a photo to Twitter of Wembanyama wearing a number 9 Spurs shirt – Parker’s number – as a kid, writing: ‘Yeah he’s going to the @spurs!!! So proud of you.”

Diaw played five seasons for the Spurs, helping them win a championship in 2014.

“There is a special relationship between France and Spurs because of Tony of course, and also Boris,” Wembanyama said on Tuesday. “I know half the country, maybe the whole country, wanted the Spurs to have first choice, so I looked at everyone and everyone was happy, so was I.”

The Spurs have a great track record with great men.

Already hailed as the greatest prospect ever, Wembanyama is now following in the footsteps of Tim Duncan and David Robinson, two of the greatest big men in NBA history. Together they led the Spurs to two championships, then Duncan led the Spurs to three more titles after Robinson retired.

The good thing for Wembanyama is that Popovich, who coached Duncan and Robinson, is still there to help him develop. Still, Wembanyama is a very different player from Robinson or Duncan, traditional big men who played their best on the post with their backs to the basket.

Wembanyama can score easily on all three levels of the pitch, dribbling adeptly around defenders to score and shooting jumpers that players of his size shouldn’t be able to pull off. It will be a new experience for Popovich.

San Antonio is one of the most successful franchises in NBA history.

The Spurs have the fifth most championships in NBA history (five), winning all of them between 1999 and 2014 under Popovich. With Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginóbili, the Spurs developed a core that enshrined a dynasty.

Duncan was the best player in the group, winning the Most Valuable Player Award in 2002 and 2003. His Spurs also fended off many great teams and players to win championships. In both the 1999 and 2003 Western Conference semifinals, they defeated Lakers teams led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. In the 2007 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated LeBron James.

“The talent, the coaching, everything in San Antonio was kind of a perfect storm,” Bryant said on the “All the Smoke” podcast in 2020. “If they hadn’t been in the picture, we probably would have won 10 in a row.”

The Spurs have struggled and been involved in controversies.

When the Spurs were winning, they were considered the model franchise in the NBA, with a great coach and stars willing to buy into his system. But that mystique is gone.

The Spurs have not made the playoffs since 2019 and have become something of a punching bag in the league. At a press conference in September, just before the start of the 2022-23 season, Popovich was honest about where the team stood: “Nobody here should go to Vegas thinking of betting on us to win the championship,” said he. “And I know someone will say, ‘Gosh, what a Debbie Downer. There is a chance. What if they work really hard?’ That is probably not going to happen.”

Popovich was right. The Spurs won 22 games, their third-lowest win total in franchise history.

During that dismal season, 2021 Spurs first-round pick Joshua Primo was accused of repeatedly exposing himself to a team sports psychologist during treatment sessions. The psychologist accused the team of failing to protect her and others, even after she reported Primo’s behavior.

The Spurs cut Primo and the psychologist settled a lawsuit against the team and Primo.

San Antonio couldn’t make it work with one key star.

In Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs seemed to have found their next star to lead them out of the Duncan, Parker and Ginóbili years. He helped them win a championship in 2014 and was named MVP in the finals. But in the 2017-18 season, Leonard injured his thigh and missed most of the year.

Throughout the year, some public comments from teammates and Popovich seemed to suggest that they were questioning the severity of Leonard’s injury. At one point, Parker said he had the “same kind of injury” as Leonard, “but it was a hundred times worse”, and had only taken him eight months to recover.

After the season, Leonard requested a trade and was sent to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for a package containing DeMar DeRozan. The following season, Leonard led the Raptors to their first title in franchise history.

The Spurs roster lacks talent.

Unlike Duncan, Wembanyama may not have an established big man like Robinson on the team who can help him grow.

The Spurs are full of young players; only three players on the roster this season have more than four years of experience. Wembanyama becomes the best player on the team on Day 1, responsible for making one of the most remarkable franchises in the league relevant again.

Of course, the Spurs have all summer to rebuild their team around Wembanyama. Based on how their fans celebrate, everyone in San Antonio is ready for something new.