Published May 31, 2026
The San Antonio Spurs, led by superstar Victor Wembaneyama, advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, defeating the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 and setting up a championship game against the New York Knicks.
The Spurs won the Western Conference Finals 4-3 in a seven-game series on Saturday, advancing to the NBA Finals where they will play the Knicks in San Antonio on Wednesday.
“We are still hungry for another shot, but this feeling is indescribable. It’s very powerful,” Wenbanyama said. “I want four more. We’re not done yet. Go, Go Spurs.”
The Spurs’ 7-foot-4-inch (224 cm) French center Wenbang Yama scored 22 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, Julien Champagnie added 20 points, including six 3-pointers, and Stephon Castle scored 16 points, leading the Spurs in a winner-take-all battle almost from the start.
“We had a good team, a great team,” Champagnie said. “We had to stay the course and play a good game.
“We were passing the ball. We were playing as a team. We came out here and played together.”
“I had no idea if I would get this far, but when you have the best players in the world, things happen.”
It was a tribute to Wembaneyama, who was the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference Finals and was also named NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Wenbanyama said of winning the series MVP award, “It means nothing to me other than the fact that we are a team.” “We got this for all of us and all the fans here.”
Wenbanyama added of his teammates, “They don’t even know how much I love them. They’re really great. They all gave it their all tonight.”
‘Wemby’ won his first playoff Game 7 by a landslide and was emotional at the finish, laughing, crying and hugging his teammates as he made it to his first NBA Finals.
“I realized that part of my childhood dream was about to come true,” the 22-year-old Frenchman said of his reaction.
The win marks a repeat of this season’s NBA Finals, which the Knicks won last December by defeating San Antonio 124-113 in Las Vegas.
Champagnie said of the Knicks, “He’s very physical, good at first attack and rebounding.” “It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 35 points.
“He was great. He played a great game,” Thunder manager Mark Daino said. “He got the result. It was a really important game for him.
“If we could have found a way to win, that would have been one of the stories of this game.”
Daigneault said repeated attempts did not lead to defeat.
“We can be proud of the effort and progress and the level of play we’re playing, but we can also be really disappointed,” he said.
“I felt like we could have won the series. We were right there. There’s no one who doesn’t think we can’t win.”
“I thought we did enough to win, but give San Antonio credit. They won.”
A Spurs team with only one player who previously appeared in Game 7 defeated an experienced Thunder team that won the title in Game 7 last year.
“We knew in October that we had a chance to do pretty well,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
“There are a lot of words being talked about: competitiveness, determination, unity, execution, etc., but who cares about the word experience?
“They had to go out and execute them, and they did.”
Wenbanyama hit two 3-pointers to spark a 17-9 run to start the fourth quarter and give the Spurs a 97-86 lead with eight minutes left.
Seconds later, ‘Wenby’ was whistled for his fifth foul and went to the bench, with Gilgeous-Alexander trying to rouse the reigning champions, but his finishing fell short.
