Victor Wemnanyama, the NBA’s tallest player, inked the third-largest rookie extension in history.
Published On 11 Jul 202611 Jul 2026
Hours after he told Spurs fans he was “here to stay”, Victor Wembanyama signed a multiyear contract extension with San Antonio that ESPN reported is for five years and $252m.
The deal, which is worth $50.4m per year, is the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) maximum rookie-scale extension and carries a player option for the fifth season.
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“Spurs family, I’m here to stay,” Wembanyama tweeted Friday. “Whatever it takes.”
The Spurs, who did not confirm financial details, published photos and videos of Wembanyama inking his contract.
Wembanyama has been viewed as one of the elite young players in the sport going back before the Spurs selected him No 1 overall in the 2023 NBA Draft.
The 7ft4in (2.24-metre) centre with an 8-ft (2.44-metre) wingspan has averaged 23.4 points, 11 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.5 blocks per game through three NBA seasons.
The Defensive Player of the Year and a first-time All-NBA first-team selection, Wembanyama finished third in Most Valuable Player (MVP) balloting this season after putting up career highs of 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
He is a career 34.2% 3-point shooter who has made 2.2 triples per game, and he’s led the league in blocks in every season since his arrival.
The Spurs fell to the New York Knicks in five games last month in Wembanyama’s first NBA Finals.
The current pieces around him include guards De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper, and the Spurs recently signed veteran forward Tobias Harris.
Wembanyama, left, with teammate Stephon Castle during the NBA Finals in June [Ross D Franklin/AP]
Victor Wembanyama has signed what will be the richest contract in San Antonio Spurs history, a five-year extension that could exceed $250 million if the player option in the final season is picked up, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Friday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the financial figures were not disclosed by either side. The Spurs, who went to the NBA Finals this past season behind the All-NBA center and unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, announced that Wembanyama had signed, simply saying the sides agreed on “a multi-year contract extension.”
The agreement comes at a discount; Wembanyama could have agreed to a deal that topped $300 million — but chose a lesser amount to help give the Spurs flexibility going forward with their young core and in anticipation of the contracts some of those budding stars will be eligible for in coming years, the person said.
SAN ANTONIO — Go crazy, New York. Or, perhaps more accurately, crazier.
The red-hot Knicks are going home, two wins away from an NBA championship that the capital of the world has been waiting to see for generations.
Jalen Brunson hit a go-ahead free throw with 9.5 seconds left after a turnover by Victor Wembanyama moments earlier, then Wembanyama missed a jumper at the end of New York’s 105-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.
“What a ballgame,” Knicks coach Mike Brown marveled.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Brunson and Mikal Bridges each scored 20 for the Knicks. They have won 13 straight, the second-longest streak by any team in NBA playoff history.
“New York City showed up,” Towns said. “The fans showed up. The energy showed up. And we found a way to get it done.”
The Knicks are just the third team to win the first two games of a finals on the road, joining Michael Jordan and the 1993 Chicago Bulls, and Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1995 Houston Rockets.
Both of those teams won championships, the Bulls needing six games to oust the Phoenix Suns, the Rockets going home after winning those first two games in Orlando and sweeping the Magic. The Knicks, seeking their first championship since 1973, are in position to join them.
Wembanyama, after a very quiet first half, scored 29. De’Aaron Fox had 20 for San Antonio.
“We can’t change the past,” Wembanyama said, “We’re already thinking about Game 3.”
The series shifts to New York. Game 3 is at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
New York Knicks guard Landry Shamet, left, celebrates with guard Mikal Bridges after making a three-pointer in the second half against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Friday.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
President Donald Trump — a native New Yorker — plans on attending Monday. And ticket prices on the secondary market, for the worst seats at MSG, were approaching $9,000 apiece on Friday night, with Knicks fans evidently willing to pay tippy-top dollar just to be in the building as the team nears what would be its first championship in 53 years.
The Spurs were down 14 midway through the fourth and came all the way back — scoring the next 14 points to tie the game. Wembanyama’s three-point play with 57 seconds left gave the Spurs their first lead in nearly two full quarters, putting San Antonio up 104-102.
“We showed tremendous desperation, urgency and competitive response,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “Hopefully we can try to bottle that up … and try to play to that same level.”
But the Knicks got the last three, Brunson — the hero of Game 1 for the Knicks — getting them all.
Brunson scored on the next possession, just his seventh basket in 24 shots on the night, and the game was tied. Wembanyama missed a long jumper, OG Anunoby got the rebound for New York with 30 seconds left, the Knicks called time and the stage was set.
The Spurs got a stop, but Wembanyama threw the ball away. Brunson got fouled, the Knicks had the lead back and before long Spurs fans were filing out of the arena — possibly for the final time this season.
The Spurs called time with 7.5 seconds remaining. Fox took the inbound pass, then set up Wembanyama for a jumper that would have won it. The shot bounced off the rim, and it was over.
“We had to get a stop. We hadn’t gotten a stop all quarter,” Towns said.
They got their stop. Next stop: New York, where the hottest team in basketball knows an NBA title is just two wins away.
Victor Wembanyama bagged 22 points as San Antonio Spurs defeated defending champions the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, where they will face the New York Knicks.
San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson had called on Wembanyama to score more than 20 points after a disappointing showing in game five.
An inspired 28-point haul by the 22-year-old Frenchman on Friday helped level the best-of-seven series at 3-3 and save his “childhood dream” – which is now within touching distance.
“Winning the Larry O’Brien [NBA championship trophy] is a childhood dream, and having a real shot at it, having a tangible chance at winning it – it’s a lifetime chance,” said Wembanyama after reaching the Finals for the first time.
“You never know when it’s gonna happen again. But the day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day – the realisation of a dream.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
Johnson’s side last won the NBA showpiece in 2014, while the Knicks will compete in the finals for the first time in 27 years.
It will be a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, which San Antonio won in five games for their first of five NBA championships.
Having scored 41 points in game one and 33 points in game four, the number one pick in the 2023 draft showed in the deciding two matches why he was one of the most coveted picks since LeBron James in 2003.
“What I’ve learned is that I can go through hurdles that I didn’t know could get so high,” added Wembanyama.
“I found resources inside of me. Relentlessness. I already knew that, but doing it at this level, this is the best basketball being played on the planet right now. And the crazy thing is I want to do that 15 or 20 more times.”
The NBA Finals series will begin on 3 June, with a possible game seven finale on 19 June.
Victor Wembanyama is making news these days as a third-year player who has led the San Antonio Spurs to a 2-2 series tie with the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals.
A sports card from the 7-foot-4 French star’s rookie season has also made headlines. Wembanyama’s 2023-24 Panini Prizm one-of-one Black parallel card recently sold for $5.11 million in a private deal brokered by Fanatics Collect.
It’s the highest known price paid for a non-autographed NBA card and the fourth-highest for any NBA card, according to price guide website Card Ladder. The buyer told the Athletic that he believes it will remain the best card for a player whose superstar potential is practically unlimited.
“There’s a sort of obvious ceiling for him, just as an athlete, that I think is higher than most people that are like the ordained superstars, like the next guy that we anticipate them being pantheon people,” said the buyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “… If you take all these players and you say, ‘What’s their ceiling?’ I think Victor Wembanyama’s [ceiling] is substantially higher.”
Professional Sports Authenticator graded the card a Gem Mint 10, which the PSA site says is reserved for “virtually perfect” cards.
The previous record amount spent on a Wembanyama card was $860,100 paid for his rookie Panini Prism Nebula Choice one-of-one card in early 2025, according to Fanatics Collect. That card had a PSA 9 grade.
The grade for the recently purchased card came with controversy. Collector Cavelle McDonald pulled the card from a pack he purchased at NorCal Sports Cards in Roseville, Calif. A video posted to the store’s YouTube account in 2024 shows McDonald and NorCal Sports Cards owner Thomas Lindenthal getting the card graded.
After learning the card’s grade, Lindenthal gave “a huge shout-out” to Kurt’s Card Care. “Your product is phenomenal,” he said.
According to its website, Kurt’s Card Care makes “100% handmade Cleaning sprays and polishes free of artificial colors and scents. Perfect for cleaning and restoring your card collection.” PSA says on its website that it “will not grade cards that bear evidence of trimming, re-coloring, restoration, or any other forms of tampering” and lists “evidence of cleaning” as a factor in the company returning a card without a numeric grade.
Some people in the video’s comment section speculated that Lindenthal’s shout-out may have indicated that the Wemby card had been tampered with in a way that should have disqualified it from being graded. NorCal Sports Cards did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.
McDonald told the Athletic that “Kurt’s Card Care has nothing to do with me or the card.” The new buyer told the publication that he was unaware of the situation before purchasing the card, but said it wouldn’t have made any difference if he had known.
Wembanyama had 41 points and 24 rebounds in the Spurs’ double-overtime victory against the Thunder in Game 1 of the conference finals and 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots in San Antonio’s Game 4 victory on Sunday. Game 5 is Tuesday in Oklahoma City, with the winner of the best-of-seven series advancing to play the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
Victor Wembanyama scored 33 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs in a 103-82 rout of Oklahoma City and level the NBA Western Conference Finals at two games each.
The 22-year-old French 7-foot-4 (2.24m) centre shot 11-of-22 from the floor, 3-of-7 from three-point range, and added eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots, and two steals in 31 minutes for the Spurs on Sunday.
“I need to find ways to impact the game in many areas,” said Wembanyama. “I have a lot of responsibilities, but I’m here for it. All of us, we’re going to have to do things we didn’t sign up for.”
Hosts San Antonio pulled level at 2-2 in the best-of-seven playoff series, with Game Five on Tuesday in Oklahoma City and Game Six back in San Antonio on Thursday.
“This was our first deficit in the playoff series. We just responded,” Wembanyama said. “It was nothing amazing. It wasn’t magic. We just did what we needed to do. The series is far from over.”
Wembanyama knows what the Spurs must do to win the NBA title.
“We’ve got six more wins before we can rest,” he said.
The Spurs seek their first trip to the NBA Finals since winning the crown in 2014, while the Thunder hope to become the NBA’s first back-to-back champions since Golden State in 2017-2018.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama was aggressive to try and keep San Antonio from falling into a 3-1 series hole.
“Our competitive response all year has been pretty good, and he has been at the forefront of that,” Johnson said.
“Tonight he felt an obligation to set a tone for us in a variety of ways. The aggressiveness was a reflection of that… I think he wants that responsibility. He’s built for it.”
The Thunder had been unbeaten on the road in this year’s playoffs but were foiled in a bid to reach 6-0 by a strong Spurs defensive effort.
“Any time we can turn defence into offence, turnovers and rebounding, that’s when we’re at our best,” Johnson said.
“We can get out and run and play and get out in pace. Our activity was great tonight, and we’re going to need to get better at it as the series moves on.”
Wembanyama is the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year [Darren Abate/AP]
The Spurs stretched their lead as large as 25 points, while the Thunder were only ahead by a single point.
“I’m not going to get into details, but in general, being more disciplined and just trusting the game plan even more,” Wembanyama said of the secret behind the Spurs’ defensive effort.
The NBA Defensive Player of the Year also cited coming together defensively as the Spurs forced 17 turnovers and made 11 steals.
“That’s super important,” said Wembanyama. “We’ve got good individual defenders, and when we connect, we’re able to hold teams to low scoring numbers.”
NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 19 points.
Oklahoma City won an NBA-best 64 games this season, with the Spurs second on 62 victories.
Wembanyama sank a half-court shot at the buzzer – the longest made basket of his career – to give the Spurs a 50-38 half-time lead and himself 22 first-half points.
“I was just thinking shoot to score,” Wembanyama said. “I wasn’t messing around.”
The Spurs opened the third quarter with a 15-5 run to seize their biggest lead to that point at 65-43, and Oklahoma City could not catch San Antonio from there.
“We needed that momentum going into the second half,” San Antonio’s Devin Vassell said of the half-court “Wemby” hoop.
Vassell and Stephon Castle each scored 13 points for the Spurs, while De’Aaron Fox added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Victor Wembanyama outduelled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to lead the San Antonio Spurs to an epic 122-115 double-overtime triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the NBA Western Conference finals.
Wembanyama scored 41 points and pulled down 24 rebounds in the thrilling game on Monday. He forced the second overtime with a dazzling three-pointer and delivered nine of the Spurs’ 14 points in the second overtime as San Antonio handed the defending champions their first defeat of these playoffs.
“It was, like, sheer willpower,” 22-year-old Wembanyama told broadcaster NBC after the game.
The French star played 49 minutes, producing a pair of dunks and a crucial block late in the second overtime to seal the victory.
With the triumph at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center, the Spurs stole home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series that will send the winners to the NBA Finals.
Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama celebrate after the game [Jesse D Garrabrant/Getty Images via AFP]
Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP motivates Wembanyama
Wembanyama admitted the sight of Thunder star Gilgeous-Alexander receiving his second straight Most Valuable Player trophy before the game made the clash more personal “for sure”.
He earned Defensive Player of the Year honours but finished third in the MVP voting announced on Sunday.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said the sight of Gilgeous-Alexander lifting the MVP award “100 percent” motivated his star.
“He’s competitive,” Johnson said. “If you’re a competitor and you see another competitor get rewarded with what you want.”
But Wembanyama said the main message of the night was that the young Spurs “are ready to go in any environment, in any place, against anybody”.
“And even though we’ve still got a lot to learn, our effort should be over anybody else’s and tonight we were relentless.”
Rookie Dylan Harper, starting in place of injured De’Aaron Fox, scored 24 points and snagged seven steals for San Antonio. Stephon Castle added 17 points and 11 assists as the Spurs extended their season dominance of the Thunder.
Oklahoma City, trying to become the first team to repeat as champions since Golden State in 2017 and 2018, piled up a league-best 64 regular-season wins but dropped four of five contests against the Spurs, who won 62 regular-season games to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Gilgeous-Alexander was limited to 24 points, shaking off a sluggish start to key the Thunder’s bid to rally from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points for the Oklahoma City Thunder [Morgan Givens/Getty Images via AFP]
‘Wasn’t able to bring my best game’
Alex Caruso scored 31 points to lead the Thunder and Jalen Williams returned from a six-game injury absence to score 26.
Oklahoma City trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, but the Thunder clawed back, and it was knotted at 99-99 with 33.2 seconds left when Wembanyama spun in for a basket that put San Antonio up 101-99.
Gilgeous-Alexander then tied it up with a layup and Chet Holmgren blocked Wembanyama’s potential game-winner at the buzzer.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s dunk put the Thunder up 108-105 with 57.6 seconds left in the first overtime.
But Wembanyama drilled a transition three-pointer to tie it, and they went to the second extra session.
“I know what my teammates are capable of, what we’re capable of as a team when we bring it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s just unfortunate I wasn’t able to bring my best game tonight.
“But that’s how it goes sometimes … you’ve got to roll with the punches, don’t get discouraged and stay true to who you are.”
The Thunder, who swept the Phoenix Suns and LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers in the first two rounds, will try to bounce back when they host game two on Wednesday before the series shifts to San Antonio for games three and four on Friday and Saturday.
The series winners will face either the New York Knicks or the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
