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Updated on May 31, 2026
The San Antonio Spurs, led by superstar Victor Wembanyama, have reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014 by eliminating the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-103, to register a championship against the New York Knicks.
The Spurs swept the Western Conference finals 4-3 on Saturday and advanced to the NBA Finals, which begin Wednesday against the Knicks in San Antonio.
“Even though we are still hungry for one, this feeling, I can’t explain, is very strong,” said Wembanyama. “We need four more. We’re not done. Go Spurs go.”
Among the French 7-foot-4-inch (224cm) Wembanyama scored 22 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, Julian Champagnie added 20 points, including 6 three-pointers, and Stephon Castle had 16 points for the Spurs, who led the championship almost all the way.
“We had a good team, a great team,” Champagnie said. “We had to stay on track and play good games.
“We pass the ball, we play as a team, we came here and played together.
“We didn’t know if we would get this far, but when you have the biggest player in the world, things happen.”
That was the thrill of Wembanyama, the Western Conference’s Most Valuable Player and NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me except that we are a team,” Wembanyama said of his MVP award. “I got this for all of us and all the fans right here.”
Regarding his teammates, Wembanyama added, “They don’t know how much I love them, they are amazing, everyone stepped up tonight.”
“Wemby” dominated his first seven playoff games and was very emotional at the end, laughing, crying and hugging his teammates to reach his first NBA Finals.
“Realizing that part of the childhood dream will come true,” the 22-year-old Frenchman said about how he did it.
The win sets up a rematch of the NBA Finals in this season’s NBA Cup final, which the Knicks won and defeated San Antonio 124-113 last December in Las Vegas.
“A lot of practice, the first hit, and the rebound,” Champagnie said of the Knicks. “It’s going to be difficult for us.”
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 35 points.
“He was smart. He had a good game,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “He delivered. It was a huge game for him.
“It would have been one of the stories of the game if we had found a way to win.”
Daiigneault said the rebounding problem was not one of the factors that led to the defeat.
“You can be proud of the effort and the progress and the way we played … but we can also be disappointed,” he said.
We felt like we could win the series, we were right there, nobody thought we couldn’t win.
“I thought we had enough to win, but give credit to San Antonio – they won.”
A Spurs team with only one player had gone seven games before defeating an experienced Thunder team that won the title in seven games last year.
“In October, we knew we had a chance to be good,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
“There’s a lot being said, words like competition, determination, cooperation, action – who can argue with the word “knowledge”?
“They had to go for the kill, and they did.”
Wembanyama hit two three-pointers in a 17-9 run to start the fourth quarter that put the Spurs ahead 97-86 with eight minutes left.
“Wemby” was whistled for his fifth seconds later and went to the bench, boosting the Thunder’s hopes in the dying minutes as Gilgeous-Alexander tried to rally the reigning champions, but failed in the end.
