Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are set to face Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals tomorrow night. Ahead of this highly anticipated matchup, the Spurs’ French star spoke to Mallika Andrews of ESPN and made a bold statement on his team’s lack of experience, as it is only his playoff run in his third year in the league.
“What’s special about this group, as for any team? The individuals. We got some great individuals, whether it’s in the staff or in the team, and I would say the relentlessness and the lack of experience are a strength for us… Because we don’t know what we could do, we can do impossible stuff because we don’t know it’s impossible,” Wembanyama said boldly.
Former players like Nick Young predicted that the Spurs would have an early first-round exit due to their lack of experience. But Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs found fuel for their motivation in those comments and proved the critics wrong.
The Spurs are now the second-youngest team to head to the NBA Finals, youngest since the 1977 Trail Blazers led by a 24-year-old Bill Walton, who then won the NBA championship that year. San Antonio’s current average age is 25.06 years, while in comparison, the Trail Blazers’ was 25.03 years back then.
The 22-year-old French star led his team to an electrifying Game 7 win over the defending champions in the Western Conference Finals and now has a 50% chance of winning an NBA championship in just his third season.
Even earlier today, Kevin Garnett, who trained closely with Victor Wembanyama earlier last summer, claimed that the star needs to go through some tough experiences before he understands what it takes to win the NBA championship.
However, Wembanyama shot down this narrative that a team needs to undergo adversity and be patient to understand the value of what it takes to win a championship.
“I agree to be patient, but just to some extent. I think being impatient can be a virtue at times because all those greats have been impatient. They, and if you’re impatient 10 times, maybe nine times you’re going, you’re just going to be impatient.”
“But maybe that one time it’s going to make you do something that you were not supposed to do. Make you play over your level, make you overachieve. And I think that’s the difference maker between good and great.”
The French All-Star also said that he feels defeating the Thunder has given the young Spurs the best preparation they could expect to face the Knicks in the NBA Finals. And it has helped this young team form an identity at a very nascent stage in their development.
Additionally, Wembanyama also gave his opinion on the Knicks and how even their lack of experience in the NBA Finals makes them a threat who will not make it any easier for the Spurs to win it all.
“I mean, they’re much better. They’re much better than they’ve been, and it’s a team of experienced guys. I don’t think any of them has played in the Finals. I know Anunoby was on the Toronto team, but I think he was hurt in the Finals.”
“It’s a team of guys that have been trying and willing and sacrificing a lot to try to get to the finals over the years, and now they’re here, and they’re not going to make it anything easy,” Wembanyama cautiously said.
So clearly, the French star plans to hit the ground running when it comes to getting their revenge for losing the NBA Cup championship game earlier in the season. Excluding that game, their regular season series was tied at 1-1. So anything can happen in Game 1 tomorrow night.
