NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 12, 2026

Victor Wembanyama

San Antonio Spurs

Practice Day

Q. Get to it right away. Pretty hot video out there of maybe some eggs being thrown at you, then also there's another one of something happening to the team bus leaving Madison Square Garden. How are these things impacting you? That's the question. How are you dealing with these incidents?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: I mean, I didn't really think much of it. I just saw that one video of the eggs. I didn't see any other one.

It's okay. I don't dislike it. Obviously it's not good at all. But it doesn't bother me.

Q. And with the bus?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: We did hear some things, yeah. I have no idea. I think it was a bottle because it was, like, water on the bus. I didn't see anything.

Q. Players always talk about keeping a zero-zero mentality in these situations. It's much easier said than done. On a personal level, what specific things do you do, whether meditation, extra reps, pregame ritual, to lock in?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: I feel like the same routine as usual, but even more pushed, you know? We are at this point of the season where, yeah, we can take some time on every other things we do to put into performance.

We're at this point where we can really empty the tank.

Q. When you rewatched that game, the second half, were there things individually that you saw that you could have done differently? Also, the other night you mentioned greediness. Could you expand on what you meant by that.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Of course, there were a thousand ways we could have not lost that game.

It felt like there was a time to process this, to really dwell on it. But not anymore.

Yeah, of course, absolutely, greediness. I guess the general thing would be, like, giving them less opportunities rather than doing something incredible.

Q. What's taken up more of your thoughts the last couple of days, the way that Game 4 got away or the fact that you've won one of these and you had excellent chances in the other three? You could have won all of them.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Yeah, I mean, you said all of it. We're very confident, but yeah, I wouldn't say it was so hard to, like, shake off, right? Harder than any other game before, by far, for sure.

I mean, now we're over it. It's the Playoffs. There's no time to regret things for too long.

Q. How much do you think fatigue was a factor for you down the stretch of that game?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Fatigue?

Q. Yes.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Definitely a factor. But it's the Playoffs. Everybody's just as tired. I mean, it shouldn't even be a factor in the game. I mean, now we got two days between games. It's not going to be a factor.

Q. Seems like they were having more success in the second half of getting you into the action. How are you approaching that kind of tug-of-war, that cat and mouse game of needing to stay back but being brought up into the action?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Sometimes it feels like if they're going to spend so much energy trying to put us in a certain position, at the end of the day there is still no mismatch. It's not necessarily bad. I don't think it was really a reason why we lost that game.

Q. What is in your mind when you see the big number of Knicks fans that are coming probably tomorrow? That means also that probably most of those tickets are sold by some of those persons? Is it a concern for you?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: No, it's not a concern. I mean, we got good defense here in the crowd.

Q. Coming into the series you and a lot of the guys have talked about you're hoping that your inexperience in this moment wouldn't be a detriment, maybe it could be a stength because you're naïve to the challenges of it. What have you learned in the last few days of what experience in the Finals looks like?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Many things. Many things. In the Finals, in the whole Playoffs...

It felt like we haven't skipped any steps because we've made almost every mistake we could have possibly done, and we've learned from them.

I'm counting on the fact that we're going to learn before this series is over and apply.

Q. In terms of the bond between you and Mitch, how has that grown throughout the course of this Playoff run?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Oh, very much. Very much. He understands people very well and knows how to speak to them. I am no exception. He knows how to speak to me.

In-game, it feels like non-verbal communication as much as verbal because sometimes it's loud, sometimes we're far away. He knows what I need. He knows what I need to get to. I know also what he needs, what signals he needs.

We've grown very much in that sense.

Q. I know you take one game at a time. I would imagine in order to attack that game the way you need to, your group needs to believe that they can still do this. The other night you said the loss would divide you or bring you together. Do you have a sense of whether the group actually thinks they can pull this off?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody thinks, everybody knows, we're going to do it.

I don't know if I agree with you. I feel like we need to isolate that one game and take it one game at a time.

I think it would be a mistake to waste our energy on multiple games. It's one game at a time.