Victor Wembanyama (Wemby) and his red-hot San Antonio Spurs basketball team are one of the favorites to win the 2026 NBA Championship in June as they close in on their first 60-win season in almost a decade after locking up their first winning season in six years. The history of the NBA has shown us for decades that championship teams have to earn some postseason scars before they’re allowed to be crowned. This collection of current Spurs players has never played a playoff game together, and they only have one starter (De’Aaron Fox) who has any playoff experience at all. They do have Wembanyama, however, the best two-way player in the game, and the 22-year-old giant doesn’t seem to be playing by the same set of rules.
The San Antonio Spurs are 57-18 and have already locked up the #2 seed in the Western Conference with a handful of games left in the regular season. It’s a monster turnaround from the 34-48 record they posted last season, which resulted in missing the postseason for a sixth consecutive year. The once-dominant franchise (5 NBA Championships from 2003-2014) averaged 29.5 wins over that postseason drought. The Spurs literally hit the lottery in 2023, selecting Victor Wembanyama with a first overall pick that they had 14% of landing. With Wemby playing just 117 games in his first two seasons due to injury and a blood clot in his right shoulder, the Spurs won a combined 56 games. He has already played 60 games this season, averaging 24.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks.
The additions of perennial all-star Fox (18.6 points, 6.2 assists), along with budding young stars Stephon Castle (21) and Dylan Harper (20), have the Spurs in position to be a legitimate title contender, way ahead of schedule. Not a single player on the current roster has played a playoff game in a Spurs uniform, a 4-3 series loss in the first round to the Denver Nuggets in 2019. Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olynyk, and Mason Plumlee join Fox as the only Spurs with playoff experience on other NBA teams. Second-year head coach Mitch Johnson (39) has posted an 89-63 record with the Spurs since taking over for the legendary Gregg Popovich.
In 2025, the Oklahoma City Thunder nearly broke the model, winning a franchise record 68 games and their first NBA title behind MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA). That same team suffered only one season of playoff failure the year before, an upset loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Semifinals. If Wembanyama and the Spurs want to win the 2026 NBA title in their maiden postseason journey, they will have to buck a playoff trend that has consumed some of the best NBA teams of all-time over decades of history.
Both Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown (Celtics 2024) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks 2021) toiled in the postseason before winning the NBA title. Lebron James overcame years of failure in the playoffs before breaking through with the Heat’s “Big Three” in 2012, and Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors underachieved for two seasons before Steve Kerr replaced Mark Jackson as head coach, setting them on their dynastic path in 2015. Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, Isaiah Thomas’ Detroit Pistons, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, and Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers all earned years of battle scars in the playoffs before hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Victor Wembanyama is the leader on a Spurs team that is the third youngest in the NBA at 25.2 years of age. Only the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trail Blazers are younger and are light-years away in their rebuilding process. Despite their youth, the Spurs are 27-11 on the road this season and are 32-14 against the rugged Western Conference. They have won four of their five matchups against the defending champion OKC Thunder this season and are 8-2 combined over title contenders that include the Thunder, Denver Nuggets, L.A. Lakers, and Boston Celtics. The Spurs and Thunder are the only two teams in the NBA that are ranked in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Despite never having played a playoff game together, Wemby and the Spurs are legitimate contenders to win the 2026 NBA title. SGA is on track to win his second straight MVP, but Wemby and the Lakers’ Luca Doncic aren’t far behind. Wemby is also the leader in the clubhouse to win his first NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. The 7 ft 4 in Frenchman’s ability to spread the floor and protect the rim creates a nightmare matchup for every single team in the league. He has played professional basketball in Europe since he was 15 years old and has done things in his first three seasons in the NBA that we have never seen before. Winning an NBA title with the Spurs in his first go-around would be just another phenomenon to add to the list.
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