Victor Wembanyama is 'here to stay,' he told Spurs fans Friday.
Victor Wembanyama is staying in San Antonio. The star center has officially signed a multiyear contract extension with the San Antonio Spurs, the team announced Friday.
, and it keeps the ascendant face of the Spurs franchise — and, potentially, the next true face of the NBA — in place in San Antonio through the dawn of the next decade. Under most circumstances, players extending the rookie-scale contracts that they signed upon entering the NBA are only eligible for extensions that can pay them a maximum of 25% of the salary cap.
Wembanyama, however, unlocked a bump up to 30% of the cap by meeting the "higher max criteria" in theThe No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft earned those honors after a remarkably dominant third NBA season that saw him average 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, a league-leading 3.1 blocks and 1.0 steals in 29.2 minutes per game, shooting 51.2% from the floor, 34.9% from 3-point range and 82.7% from the free-throw line.
Wembanyama becamesince the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973 to average 25-10-3-3 for a full season, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Shaquille O'Neal; he is the first player to do it since O'Neal, in 1999-2000.in his right shoulder and the subsequent realization that "life isn't forever," Wembanyama entered last season intent on accelerating his and the Spurs' timetable: on doing whatever he could to establish himself asdominant player in the NBA, and the Spurs as a championship contender not in the making, but in the present. — and went 50-14, a 64-win pace, with him in the lineup.
He smoothed out his shot selection somewhat, trading in some of his more speculative 3-point looks for higher-percentage opportunities closer to the basket. Heas the best defensive player on the planet, leading the league in blocks and defensive rebounding rate. Opponents barely even looked at the rim when he was stalking the paint.
Justthird in Most Valuable Player voting , behind previous winners Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić; reasonable people can disagree over whether or not Wembanyama exited the season having asserted himself as the most dominant player in the sport. The broader collective goal, though — immediately reinserting the Spurs into the championship picture — he inarguably achieved.
, soaring from 34 wins in 2024-25 to a sterling 62-20 mark last season — the franchise's highest win total in a decade, and good for second place in the West. The only team that won more was Gilgeous-Alexander's Oklahoma City Thunder … who, as you might recall, Wembanyama and the Spurs dominated, to the tune of… and scoring a team-high 22 points in 42 minutes as the Spurs outdueled the Thunder in Oklahoma City in Game 7 to punch San Antonio's ticket back to the NBA Finals for the first time since winning it all in 2014..
But Wembanyama's presence and performance throughout the postseason — 23.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 2.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 34.1 minutes per game, with San Antonio outscoring opponents by— announced loudly that he and the Spurs are a force to be reckoned with in the championship chase, now and for years to come.
"I think he's stepped into every moment with the appropriate amount of fearlessness and also respect for the moment and being exactly who he is," Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said after the Finals. "He's bringing his teammates and everybody else along with him. It's been pretty fun to observe and be a part of.
""It's painful," he said, when asked what losing to the Knicks felt like. "But I'm not running away from that. I'm using that to fuel me. I'm sure all , they're not satisfied with being eliminated in earlier rounds or not making the playoffs.
I'm not satisfied with not winning. But as I said, this is theMaybe nothing can help soothe the sting of that sort of defeat. A quarter-billion dollars seems like a pretty good place to start, though. Earlier on Friday, Wembanyama sent out an encouraging message to fans Friday suggesting he's going to sign a new extension with the team.
That message, which Wembanyama sent out on X, was short, but included the phrase, "I'm here to stay.
"Wembanyama, 22, entered the offseason in line for a massive contract extension. A max deal would reportedly net Wembanyama an astounding five-year, $251 million deal. If Wembanyama hits certain escalators in that deal, it could surge to over $300 million, making it the most expensive rookie extension of all time.. It's the same one Tim Duncan employed in 2007.
The Spurs, which were coming off their fourth championship with Duncan, didn't win another title during that particular extension. When it came time for Duncan to re-sign in 2012, however, he took even less to keep the team competitive. While Wembanyama came close this past season, the youngster is still looking for his first NBA championship. After averaging 25 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game in the regular season, Wembanyama essentially matched those numbers during the playoffs.
He helped lead the Spurs all the way to the Finals, where they lost to the New York Knicks in five games. Though he still put up excellent numbers, it was a frustrating series for Wembanyama, who watched as his Spurs choked away multiple late-game leads. That may have gotten to Wembanyama in the end, as heBut if Wembanyama truly hated the Knicks following the Finals, he's picking an odd way to show it.
If Wembanyama takes less than the max in his extension, he would be following in the footsteps of Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, whoin 2024. That decision allowed the Knicks to spend more on quality players, eventually leading to the team's championship. By the numbers, Wembanyama is more than deserving of a max contract. When healthy, the center has dominated the NBA.
Over his career, Wembanyama has averaged 23.4 points, 11 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 blocks per game. He's won Rookie of the Year, made two All-Star teams, was named the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and made two All-Defensive teams. But if Friday's reports turn out to be accurate, all that pales in comparison to winning a title for Wembanyama.
If taking less money allows the Spurs to get over the hump and get back to their championship-winning ways, it sure sounds like Wembanyama is willing to make that sacrifice.
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