While their playing styles and physiques bear little resemblance, Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is providing the rest of the NBA’s teams with the same sort of unique challenges they faced three decades ago when Shaquille O’Neal emerged as a superstar in Orlando, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Like Wembanyama, O’Neal led his team to the NBA Finals in just his third year in the league.
“He’s Shaq,” one veteran NBA head coach said of Wembanyama, per Windhorst. “He eats clean, worries about how his water is filtered and doesn’t break backboards like Shaq did, but he presents the same problem. None of us know what the hell we’re going to do to stop him.”
“Of course people are going to compare him to Shaq but he’s actually Shaq 2.0,” a rival general manager added. “Because he takes care of his body and plays a modern game, shoots the three and can make free throws. Yeah, he’s our nightmare.”
While O’Neal eventually won four NBA championships, he didn’t earn his first one until 2000, well after he had left Orlando for Los Angeles. In 1995, he and a young Magic team entered the Finals as favorites, but were swept by Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets, who were defending their ’94 title. As Windhorst writes, the Spurs and Wembanyama will also enter the Finals without the edge in playoff experience, but they’re determined to avoid the same fate as O’Neal’s Magic.
“The lack of experience is a strength for us,” Wembanyama told ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “Because we could do impossible stuff … because we don’t know it’s impossible.”
Here’s more on the NBA Finals, which will get underway in a matter of hours:
- Stephon Castle‘s ability to slow down Knicks star Jalen Brunson will be one of the key factors of the Finals, according to Vincent Goodwill of ESPN, who notes that Brunson expressed nothing but respect for Castle at media day on Tuesday. “He’s great. I think his intensity and tenacity is special,” Brunson said. “He plays with a chip on his shoulder. He’s had that since I’ve seen him at UConn. The way he’s played over these first couple years of his career, he’s going to be a great player, great defender.” While the sample size is small, Castle has defended Brunson well in the past, holding him to 27.3% shooting (3-of-11), per Goodwill.
- Kurt Helin of NBC Sports passes along some of the notable quotes from Knicks and Spurs players at Tuesday’s media day, while Ben Golliver of ESPN ranks all 30 players involved in the series, from Wembanyama at No. 1 to Bismack Biyombo at No. 30.
- Facing the Knicks in the Finals represents a “full-circle” moment for reserve Spurs center Luke Kornet, as Howie Kussoy of The New York Post relays. Kornet spent the first two years of his NBA career with New York, playing on a two-way contract as a rookie. “I had a great time in my first two years, especially in Westchester,” Kornet said on Tuesday. “I feel like the group that we had, it was some really fun basketball that we played. That’s what I remember the most. We had a lot of talent and young guys and it felt like an extension of college. I felt like I was growing my game a lot at that time. A lot of guys always talk about the G League like you can’t wait to get out of it, but I really enjoyed my time.”
- Whichever team claims this year’s championship, it will be a win for the Philippines, according to Miguel Alfonso Caramoan of ESPN. As Caramoan observes, either Spurs guard Dylan Harper or Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson will become the first Filipino-descended NBA player to win a title.
- In a pair of stories for The New York Post, Andrew Crane digs into how the Knicks and Spurs acquired each of the 15 players on their current standard rosters.
Going to be a fun finals… Go Spurs!!
I dont think it will be fun for the Knicks, but I agree, Spurs in 4 lol
If Castle locks Brunson in any of these games, it will be a short series
Biyombo stray
Wemby is Shaq, but is a better shooter, blocker, playmaker, dribbler, rebounder, defender (perimeter and at the rim) lmao so he’s not like Shaq at all!
He does present a massive problem for the league in a similar way to Shaq though. That part still is true at least. The crazy part is SAS could also pretty much get any superstar they wanted to pair with him.
Shaq + Kobe = Wemby + which superstar?
“ The East champs enter this series on an all-time hot streak on offense, shooting 41% from 3-point range during their 11-game win streak and outscoring their opponents by an NBA-record 262 points over that span.”
— As far I’m concerned. Spurs have to adjust to us. We owned them during season. They needed OT to win their only gm a W by 2 pts. Wemby is a load for any team. Knicks can give him trouble with Towns and Mitch. He won’t control game against Knicks like he did against Thunder.
Spurs guards is what I’m most concerned about. They are long and athletic. Bridges and Hart will have to step up. And our bench guards will have to also. Knicks have the depth and experience. So I believe in this and them. Nobody is playing better than Knicks. So I expect gm1 to be a statement game. Who will make it ?? NYK2026 🏀ING.
The time is now for New York!!! Fans suffered enough. Spurs won plenty between the Championships and lotteries. If there is truly a God it’s time for New York. If SA wins I guess no God. Good luck to all Knicks fans we need it. Let’s do this 4 more wins. Win for Ewing, King, Melo and every former Knicks player who have suffered
IMO the Knicks are just to well coached and relentless in their offense schemes.I expect the Knicks to beat on wemby, then beat on him some more. The Knicks showed time and time again once they have a lead, game over. Unless wemby becomes the 40 and 20 guy he should be every night he steps on the floor I like the Knicks in 6.
You think Wemby should average 40 and 20? What do you think when he matures a bit, maybe 60 and 35?
Wemby should put those numbers up against any team any night without resistance. Your 60 and 35 just shows what are you here for???? I believe as wemby matures he will put close to those 40 and 25 up every time he Dominants as he should.
You just said he should average 40 a night now, and then you said when he matures, he should average close to 40.
So he should be averaging 40 now and when he matures it will drop a bit?
Not to bright are you Tommy.
Dude I think the point is Wemby would have to put big numbers every night. For the Spurs to win. Stop acting like a stats monitor.
What gets me about FANS TODAY.
They are so quick to jump on or off the bandwagon of a player or team. Wemby is a great talent. He’s only in his third year. So you probably should wait till he wins a few Titles. Before we anoint him the greatest.
Teams win team sport titles. Not superstars or stars. You need your stars to show up. It takes everyone to win. Including coaching.
You should listen to Fox talking about getting here.
Maybe game 1 can show us that we can slow our roll down just a bit on Victor. Undoubtedly his defense is unlike anything we’ve seen, but we saw last night that he’s still 22, physically weak at times immature and selfish.
He continues to insist on trying to dribble through traffic and gets stripped over and over, he was useless on the offensive glass, got knocked around trying to rebound and has yet to develop a reliable post move.
All this will come but it’s still a couple of years away with some additional weight strength and maturity. Spurs also have to find him a reliable shooter (Champagnie can get hot but is generally not good enough to be on a championship team) and I think they need a true power forward to help w rebounding.
If they want to extend this series, Mitch needs to drop Johnson from the rotation, drop the idea of Bryant guarding Brunson (that cost them 8 straight points) and I think he should play Kornet and Wemby together.
Also it appears Fox, still has no lift off that ankle which is why he’s missing shots he always makes. If they can’t get more out of him they could get swept.
I agree 100%. Yes, he’s going to be great. He is already great in a lot of aspects but so many people are ready to throw the towel in and give up saying that in the west only the Spurs and OKC are going to be relevant for the coming years. Like what? Should everyone else just stop playing then? They can be beaten. New game plans need to be developed. Superstars all have their weaknesses, even the all time greats did. Those who fell short need to tweak their rosters and study game film. No need for people to panic.