How the Spurs paved the way for Victor Wembanyama's NBA career - ESPN

IT'S LATE IN the evening on Jan. 15, and Tony Parker is walking down a hall at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. The sleeves of his mauve bomber jacket rolled up, he stops every few steps to soak in adulation from fans paying homage to the greatest player in French basketball history.

The Hall of Fame point guard and four-time NBA champion represents the past for both the San Antonio Spurs and the country of France.

Just a few feet down the hall, Victor Wembanyama — the present and future of the franchise, French basketball and possibly the entire NBA — waits for second-half instructions in the locker room after blocking eight shots in helping San Antonio build a 63-51 halftime lead over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The lead doesn't last, as Wembanyama and the Spurs fall victim to their inexperience and lose by 14. Two nights later, they again lose at home to the Grizzlies — this time without star guard Ja Morant — by 28.

Still, the 21-year-old's faith in the Spurs franchise remains as solid as ever, despite a 22-win rookie campaign and the club's most recent struggles — losers of six of their past seven games — headed into the 2025 NBA Paris Games, which will tip off Thursday against the Indiana Pacers.

«The organization has proven over and over they're willing and they're doing the right things,» Wembanyama said Friday after the Spurs' 140-112 loss. «The most important thing is trust and also communication. It's a balance and the will [between both parties] to keep that balance over the years. This is what's going to pay off.»

During the predraft process, in which Wembanyama was not only considered the consensus No. 1 pick but a generational prospect, he professed on multiple occasions that San Antonio was exactly where he