San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has added a bit of bulk ahead of his second season in the NBA.

The Spurs have Wembanyama tipping the scales at 235 pounds heading into training camp. That's 25 pounds heavier than his listed weight from last season.

Spurs camp roster: pic.twitter.com/1YMZrYUPRe

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) September 30, 2024

The reigning Rookie of the Year only turns 21 in January. He's bound to continue filling out his 7'3" frame as he physically matures. The longer he's in the NBA, the better he and his trainers will know how to tailor his physique to handle the rigors of the league as well.

The version of Giannis Antetokounmpo from his rookie year is almost unrecognizable from the player the Milwaukee Bucks star would become. In addition to getting slightly taller, his weight increased from 196 pounds when he was drafted in 2013 to 222 pounds during the 2015-16 season.

Wembanyama arrived as the most hyped prospect since LeBron James in 2003 and he managed to perform better than expected as a rookie. He averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and an NBA-best 3.6 blocks in 71 appearances. He was the first rookie ever named to the NBA All-Defensive first team.

Beyond what was immediately apparent from his highlight reel, one thing that set the 7-footer apart before he entered the NBA was his meticulous preparation outside of games and practices. ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Jonathon Givony detailed off-court routines he had established for years in service of becoming an elite basketball talent.

There was little doubt that focus would remain once the Frenchman moved abroad.

It almost seems like a foregone conclusion that Victor Wembanyama will be the best player in the NBA one day, but Patrick Beverley believes the San Antonio Spurs big man will take that crown as soon as the 2024-25 season.

"He's not a five," Beverley said Thursday on his podcast (43:35 mark) after ranking the best centers in the league. "He's everything. Like you can't even put him in comparison with other people, he's the best player in the NBA next year. He's a center who shoots threes and dribbles the ball…

"Just because you're 7'4" doesn't make you a center. We're talking about guys who are centers, who come out and set screen and rolls. None of the guys that we are naming come up and shoot hesi-pull threes, maybe [Joel] Embiid a little bit but that's it. It's not fair for him to give him a position. He's an alien, he's positionless."

Wembanyama wasted no time making an impact during his first season in the league as the Rookie of the Year and an All-Defensive First Team selection who led the NBA with 3.6 blocks per game.

He posted 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals a night to go with those block numbers and proved to be a matchup nightmare with the ability to score all over the floor, attack off the bounce, control the boards and even facilitate if necessary.

As if that wasn't enough, Wembanyama led France to the gold-medal game at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer and gave the United States quite the challenge with 26 points and seven rebounds. The Americans needed a late barrage of three-pointers from Stephen Curry to secure the win in large part because they had few answers to the Spurs star.

Wembanyama won't even be able to legally drink in the United States until January, but he is already positioned to take over the NBA as an unguardable force.

That takeover may include him becoming the league's top player this season.

Keldon Johnson is paying respect to one of his newest teammates.

The San Antonio Spurs guard announced on Instagram that he is switching to No. 0 for the 2024-25 season, clearing the way for guard Chris Paul to don his established No. 3.

Keldon Johnson makes it official.

He will wear No. 0 for the Spurs this year.
Chris Paul will wear No. 3. pic.twitter.com/z58J7DWgHl

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) September 4, 2024

Johnson is entering his sixth season in the NBA, all with San Antonio. He has worn No. 3 throughout that entire run. Paul is entering his 20th season with his seventh team but has worn No. 3 with every franchise.

Johnson averaged 15.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 2023-24 for San Antonio. He was relegated to more of a bench role, only making 27 starts in 69 games, but still should provide some valuable minutes for the Spurs.

Paul averaged 9.2 points, 6.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 58 games for the Golden State Warriors in 2023-24. These numbers don't line-up with his former standard but he should still bring a wealth of experience to a Spurs team that really needs it.

San Antonio just capped off a second consecutive 22-60 season and is currently in the longest playoff drought (five seasons) in franchise history. That could definitely increase to six, but Paul's presence should help the development of 2023-24 Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, 2024 first-round pick Stephon Castle and the 24-year-old Johnson.

Basketball fans will have the opportunity to get their hands on a Victor Wembanyama autographed rookie card for the first time ever.

Topps Basketball announced Wednesday that it is returning for the first time in 15 years with its 2024 Chrome Basketball series. The series highlights Fanatics-exclusive athletes such as Wembanyama and will include the first autographed rookie card from the San Antonio Spurs star.

The set will also feature the first autographed cards from Fanatics-exclusive athletes such as Brandon Miller, Jamie Jaquez Jr., Scoot Henderson and Cam Whitmore, as well as a LeBron James autograph.

Packs will contain eight cards 2023-24 Topps Chrome Basketball cards.. Each box will contain 24 base card parallels, 12 insert cards or parallels, two of which will be autographed. Other stars such as Jayson Tatum and Bradley Beal will also have autographed cards in the set, although there will be no team or league marks since Fanatics Collectibles does not have the NBA License.

While headline names such as James and Tatum are always going to stand out, the autographed Wembanyama rookie is particularly notable.

After all, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NBA draft seems well on his way to becoming one of the faces of the league after his Rookie of the Year season that saw him average 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, a league-best 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from deep.

The 20-year-old figures to become more efficient as a scorer as he garners more experience in the NBA, and that ability to step out beyond the three-point line as a 7'4" big man will continue to be a nightmare for opposing defenses.

Wembanyama also seems poised to win a number of Defensive Player of the Year awards throughout his career.

He was a member of the All-Defensive First Team and finished in second place in the voting for the award behind only four-time winner Rudy Gobert.

As if that rookie season wasn't impressive enough, Wembanyama spent his summer leading France's men's basketball team to a silver medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. France threatened the United States for much of the gold-medal game in large part because of the big man's individual brilliance until Stephen Curry took over the closing stretch with his three-point shooting.

Wembanyama finished with 26 points and seven rebounds in that contest.

It was one of what will likely be many memorable performances from the star who now has an autographed rookie card available.

In an anonymous poll of 18 NBA coaches, scouts and executives this week, San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was overwhelmingly chosen as the league's best player five years from now.

As part of a wide-ranging poll conducted by ESPN's Tim Bontemps, 12 of the 18 voters tabbed the 7'4" Frenchman as the future of the NBA, ahead of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić (two votes each), and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić (one vote each).

It is difficult to argue against the notion that Wemby will be the NBA's top player in five years given that the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft was the unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year and finished second in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award voting in his debut season.

Given his blend of size and skill, Wembanyama was one of the most hyped prospects to enter the NBA in years, and he didn't disappoint.

Although the Spurs finished only 22-60, Wembanyama provided a shining beacon of hope, averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.8 three-pointers made, 1.2 steals and a league-leading 3.6 blocks per game in 71 contests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0-MVdIt2o

As if that wasn't enough, the 20-year-old nearly led France to a gold medal in Olympic basketball on home soil, as he helped take the French team to the gold medal game against the United States.

France kept it close throughout and Wembanyama led all scorers with 26 points, but the favored Americans managed to prevail by a 98-87 score.

Wembanyama has likely only scratched the surface with regard to how good he can be, and all signs point toward him continuing to develop as he gets better and the talent around him improves.

While Wembanyama is just getting started, the other four players who received votes in the poll have accomplished a great deal already.

Gilgeous-Alexander is a two-time All-Star who finished second in the NBA MVP voting last season, Doncic is a five-time All-Star who took the Mavs to the NBA Finals last season, Edwards is a two-time All-Star who won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA this summer and Jokic is a three-time NBA MVP, one-time NBA champion and one-time NBA Finals MVP.

All of them have a chance to be the class of the NBA five years from now, but Wembanyama is the youngest and undoubtedly has the most room to improve.

Regardless, the NBA figures to look a lot different in five years than it does now, as legendary future Hall of Famers such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry could potentially all be out of the league by then.

Star big man Victor Wembanyama was declared to be a generational talent when the San Antonio Spurs selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, and many believe he's well on his way to fulfilling that expectation.

During an appearance on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN's Tim MacMahon said he's spoken to people around the NBA who think Wembanyama has the potential to be the greatest defensive player to ever play in the league.

"The thing with Victor is, you can reasonably expect for the next 12 or 15 years that he's going to be the most dominant defensive player in the league, maybe the most dominant defensive player that we've ever seen, I've talked to people around the league who think that'll be the case," MacMahon said around the 5:40 mark.

Wembanyama was unanimously named Rookie of the Year this past season after averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.2 steals and a league-high 3.6 blocks. He finished second in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Defensive first team.

While his defensive prowess is already apparent, MacMahon noted that there are still some questions about his ceiling on offense. If the 20-year-old can put it all together on both ends, he will dominate the league for years to come.

"The question is how great he will be offensively, and what exactly is he going to be offensively," MacMahon added. "We've talked about, 'Hey, you're not a 7'5" shooting guard.' I think if he settles into being a big man who has some guard skills and uses them selectively, then he's got a chance to be awfully special on that end of the floor as well."

After France's loss to the United States in the gold-medal game at the 2024 Olympics, Victor Wembanyama was seen having a discussion on the court with Kevin Durant.

In a recent interview with M6 Info in France (translated by ClutchPoints), Wembanyama revealed he was talking to Durant about perhaps stealing "one or two of his secret techniques."

“He became my favorite childhood player… I made it clear that I wanted to learn from him [and] perhaps only steal 1 or 2 of his secret techniques.”

Victor Wembanyama on his conversation with Kevin Durant after the gold medal game 🙌

(via @m6info / YT)pic.twitter.com/wbTDvFpsG7

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 15, 2024

Wembanyama's unique basketball ability made it difficult for scouts to find one single player to compare him to leading up to the 2023 NBA draft. B/R's NBA staff used seven different categories and seven different player comps to evaluate his game.

Dan Favale compared Wembanyama's handle in the half court to Durant: "Much like Durant, Wembanyama is more of a tactician. He may have the strides of Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the surgical probes, controlled footwork and crafty angles are KD-esque."

Durant's length and fluid motion have allowed him to become one of the best NBA shooters ever.

If Wembanyama continues to evolve his scoring game so that it looks anything close to what Durant has done in his career, it's not hyperbolic to say he could be the most unstoppable player in NBA history.

Wembanyama was already a force last season despite shooting just 32.5 percent from three-point range, but that number was dragged down by a rough start to his rookie campaign. He connected on 35.1 percent of his attempts from behind the arc over his final 29 games.

Even with a below-average three-point percentage, Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and an NBA-high 3.6 blocks per game in 71 starts as a rookie for the San Antonio Spurs.

The Olympics indicated Wembanyama still has room to grow as a consistent offensive player, but he stepped up huge when France needed it the most. He finished with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds in the 98-87 loss to Team USA in the final.

Wembanyama and Durant will play their first head-to-head meeting of the 2024-25 regular season on Dec. 3 when the Spurs and Phoenix Suns square off in the Emirates NBA Cup group stage.

Kevin Durant will be back on a collegiate basketball court in Texas in 2024-25.

The 14-time All-Star and his Phoenix Suns were scheduled for a "special on-campus NBA Game" at the University of Texas' Moody Center.

KD will return to the University of Texas for a special on-campus NBA game at the Moody Center

Suns vs. Spurs - Feb. 20th at 9:30pm ET on TNT pic.twitter.com/O7re1Tm3I6

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) August 15, 2024

The Suns will be taking on Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. The game is scheduled for Feb. 20 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

The Moody Center is a familiar venue for Durant. He played collegiately at Texas during the 2006-07 season and it's safe to say he made quite the impact. He averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 35 games. Texas would go 25-10 and earned a No. 4 seed in that year's NCAA Tournament.

He translated this successfully into his NBA career. He has averaged 27.3 points, seven rebounds and 4.4 assists across his 16-year NBA career. He has also won two NBA titles and the 2013-14 MVP.

He has returned to Austin multiple times since he left campus in 2007 but the February matchup will be his first competitive game on the court since suiting up for the Longhorns.

The San Antonio Spurs have not been to the playoffs since 2019. They are hoping to take the next step toward changing that as the rebuild continues in 2024-25.

The development of Victor Wembanyama, the addition of veteran guard Chris Paul and the arrival of former UConn standout Stephon Castle could put the team on track to improve on last season's 22-win campaign.

Here are the marquee matchups to watch for as the Spurs look to tip off the second season of the Wembanyama era.

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2024-25 Spurs Schedule Details

Going once, going twice... 🤠@HEB | #sponsored pic.twitter.com/c9eqwIJ3Jd

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) August 15, 2024

Season Opener: Thursday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m. ET at Dallas Mavericks

Championship Odds: +15000 (bet $100 to win $15,000), per FanDuel

Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.

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Top Matchups

Houston Rockets

The perennial rivalry between the Rockets and the Spurs should be hotter than ever this season with both teams projected to have improved this offseason.

The Rockets added No. 3 pick Reed Sheppard in the draft and former first-round pick A.J. Griffin in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, further bolstering a young core that boasts Amen Thompson, Jalen Green, Cam Whitmore and Jabari Smith Jr.

Increased consistency among these players next season will make the Rockets a test for Wembanyama and the new-look Spurs—and will make this matchup one to watch every time it tips off.

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Atlanta Hawks

This year's matchup between the Hawks and Spurs will see the No. 1 picks from the 2023 and 2024 drafts face off against one another for the first time.

Zaccharie Risacher climbed up to the top of the draft in part because of his ability to defend multiple positions, much like his compatriot in San Antonio.

If Risacher can even hold his own for brief stretches against Wembanyama, it will go a long way toward proving he can anchor the Hawks frontcourt like Wembanyama does for the Spurs.

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Season Forecast

Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game in his rookie season. The Spurs are hoping all of those numbers will climb as the defending Rookie of the Year continues to develop in his second NBA season.

That could be helped by the acquisition of Paul, who ranks first among all active NBA players with more than 11,800 career assists. He can help boost the Spurs, and Wembanyama, by reliably getting the ball to his 7'4'' running mate in advantageous spots.

San Antonio also added veteran forward Harrison Barnes to the roster. He, alongside returning starters Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan, can hopefully offer the Spurs a more reliable starting five next season.

The additions of Castle and UNC forward Harrison Ingram will also help build out the team's depth and allow the Spurs to head into the 2024-25 campaign with a more competitive and complete roster.

After earning just 22 wins last season, this team looks poised to take the next step toward contending in 2025.

Record Prediction: 31-51