A ghost haunts the NBA – a ghost Victor Vembanyama.
All the forces of the old guard have formed a fragile alliance to contain this unicorn: rivals Luka Doncic and Anthony Edwards, Oklahoma City radicals and the one with the most to lose, Nikola Jokic. Everyone is feeling the change, from the veterans of past champions to the new faces of the league. The Spurs are a future basketball dynasty.
7 ft 4 in (at least) forward from France signals imminent dominance. Armed with guard-like dribbling, Defensive Player of the Year-type blocks and Splash Brother-level three-point shooting, San Antonio became ground zero for the NBA's next great team. For for the second time this century.
Talk of an “MVP jump” no longer seems premature. Barring injury, the 21-year-old Frenchman would finish in the top five in voting and also earn First Team NBA Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors. How? Continuing to attack from the perimeter as you would on the wing, deflect screens while creating contact before hitting other seven-footers like a dangling modifier. He's more confident on the ball now – quicker decisions, no hesitation, smoother footwork, cleaner shots thanks to traffic. The neophyte's trembling was gone. He catches, drives and calls the dish or dunk. You can see the imprints of Hakeem Olajuwon's influence throughout the post: jab steps, drop steps, and turns with balance. (This not an accident.) Defensively, he warps property with an eight-foot wingspan.
Against Dallas in the season opener last month, Anthony Davis thought he had a layup. Until “Wemby” came out of nowhere to erase it, leaving AD to ask for a goalie. Ha. Riddle me this: What do you do when he blocks with one hand, rebounds with the other, and somehow is already pushing the ball in transition before the defense has a chance to process what happened? What about when he's running around the court like a defender, calling fouls in tight spaces and causing teams to panic? We don't judge how you choose to cope. Especially now that he's attacking the paint more, starting at the elbow, curling punt downs and punishing double kicks. Prayers up.
While the Spurs are off to their best 5-0 start, the league is struggling to survive. History has shown that it takes three to four seasons of lottery picks for stars of different generations to build a supporting cast around their star. Through a combination of insight and luck, Spurs included Wemby among the best young players of the 21st century.
The Spurs have had eight lottery picks in their last six. NBA drafts. Of these, only Joshua Primo failed. Rob Dillingham, the eighth overall pick in 2024, was traded in the draft to the Minnesota Timberwolves for an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a trade of a 2030 first-round pick. Gold. Dejounte Murray's 2022 trade was another heist that netted three first-rounders and a trade: a 2023 pick via Charlotte (from New York), a 2025 first pick, a 2026 trade, and a 2027 first pick. Fleece. They used the No. 14 pick in Carter Bryant, a high-ranking guard, this summer, adding to one of the league's richest young talent pools.
The remaining tools were used to construct the surrounding core of three-dimensional multidimensional wings: three-level dude Devin Vassell in 2020 (11th), guard Jeremy Sochan in 2022 (ninth), Wemby is first in 2023, last season's Rookie of the Year dunking demon Stephon Castle is fourth, and giant table-server Dylan Harper is second in June. Look at this group. Everyone plays defense. Everyone can score. Sports. Smart. Big. It's no exaggeration to say that this is the most promising young core in NBA history. Where OKC had a trio, San Antonio has a full rotation.
It's still early, but Castle's growing aggression has been one of the most noticeable developments. It doesn't just cut or fill lanes anymore; he initiates and seeks contact. That confidence, combined with his size and defensive versatility, makes him the ideal link between San Antonio's shooters and playmakers.
Meanwhile, the highly touted Harper was singled out as the most outstanding non-Wemby player of the national team and pre-season. Its trigger pressure makes it spin; his reading—through or through—shows a poise that belies his age. His footwork is polished, his handle can handle pressure from all over the court, and his ability to impact the game even coming off the bench highlights just how deep this lineup is.
With Harper and Castle complementing Wembanyama, the Spurs can switch between two big lineups and multi-guard lineups, combining defensive switchability with offensive unpredictability. Here comes a new identity that can adapt to almost any match and pace.
Think about the poverty and pain that most NBA fans endure. For fans of the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers, it's been decades since they last achieved relevance. Spurs have already been a paragon of winning this century, with five league titles between 1999 and 2014 from six games, consolidating their hegemony over 15 years. After a generation that featured Hall of Fame-caliber players like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard, they now have the best prospect since LeBron James in Wembanyama. No dynasty has seen such a rapid return to relevance behind unique talents.
The other 29 NBA teams should win a championship while they can, as the Spurs will be a real contender starting this year. You read that right. The reconstruction is completed. There are no positional holes in this lineup. The Spurs bolstered their frontcourt with the summer's best player in Luke Kornet, adding his championship experience to Golden State Warriors' hoop Harrison Barnes and adding shooting, shot blocking and rebounding next to Wemby. Star big men typically see significant defensive losses when they sit on the bench. Cornet ensures they remain formidable for the full 48 minutes.
Kornet's intelligence as a mover and soft hands make him elite in the dunker spot. We saw this synergy earlier this season in a two-man game against Wembanyama, with defenders having to step up inverted pick-and-rolls due to Wembany's throws and gravity. This pressure opens up decision points: spreads to shooters or inside finds to Cornet at the rim. Bring two to the ball and Wemby will make you pay. Pick your poison.
Supporting pieces like three-and-D ensemble player Justin Champagnie, the wily and stretchy Kelly Olynyk and versatile fighter Keldon Johnson round out the rotation. The team is still missing more than one shooter, but it will be less worrisome if they continue to create open threes through shots and drives. The real issue isn't whether the throws are successful, especially if their offense consistently generates quality looks. Some opponents, especially teams with great length and switching ability like the Thunder, may try to smooth out this creation by switching shooters or staying home to test San Antonio's half-court engine.
Last season, the Spurs combined to shoot 39% from three on 29 attempts per game, a pretty solid stat that hints at the latent potential in space if the numbers increase. There are so many features in this system: multi-level counters, wrinkles, and inverted actions that simply didn't exist in previous years. At the heart of it all is Wemby.
This summer he disappeared into a vegan monastery in the mountains of China, spending 10 days with monks. All this time he did not speak to anyone, returning hairless, patient and planetary. Shit got real. They traded parts for All-Star De'Aaron Fox last season. This gives them three leading starting-level defenders. Fox is currently out due to injury. When he returns, what will those three-guard lineups—Fox, Castle, Harper—actually look like? There is real intrigue there: constant pressure on the ring, two-way play by defenders, non-stop pace and, at a minimum, high-quality play by defenders throughout the entire 48 minutes.
Early results are strong, but not perfect. They jumped out to leads and watched them shrink—or disappear entirely—against Brooklyn and Toronto. GOAT coach Greg Popovich's successor, Mitch Johnson, has laid a foundation that looks real: sixth in offensive rating, second in defensive rating and first overall in net ratings. It will take a while to mesh, but once they add Fox's pace, it will be a two-man game that punishes every cover: drop, changeup, double, blitz – it doesn't matter.
What makes them scarier is the flexibility of the composition. They have three dynamic guards that can be mixed and matched. They can play big with Kornet or Olynyk and still spread you out – because Wemby can spin, roll or run the point from the slot.
Defensively, new assistant coach Sean Sweeney has created havoc around his long backs – Castle, Champagne, Harper and Johnson – forcing them to get up early, chase action rather than switch, and steer everything towards Wemby. He gets up. He folds. He appears again. They turned the widely spammed “zoom pass” into a trap, plugging holes before they opened. Wemby anchors it all, a deterrent and disruptor rolled into one, allowing the others to press higher and close down harder, knowing the back line is covered. It's everything, everywhere, all at the same time. And it will only get worse – for everyone else. There's no stopping what's coming. In fact, it's already here.
