NBA FINALS: KNICKS VS. SPURS

June 13, 2026

Victor Wembanyama

San Antonio Spurs

Game 5: Postgame

Knicks 94, Spurs 90

Q. It's the end of a tough series. Can you put into words what it was like to watch that team celebrate a championship on your home floor? Does that give you and the team motivation, fuel going into whatever's next?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: I think that compared to anything before, this is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment. I can't tell you exactly what the lesson is, but we're learning from that, for sure. I'm learning more than any other time in my life before.

Q. You've had quite the journey just over your first three years in the league. How do you think all of this is going to sort of shape your mentality moving forward?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: It's going to be all of it. You know, who we are, what we're made of, our experiences. This has been a hell of a year in terms of experience.

I don't think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one Playoff run and in one season, and personally in 18 months. It's been hard and full of lessons.

Q. I know it's too early to process maybe, but when you are going through this summer, do you think there's anything from these last few games, months, the whole season, that's going to stick with you that you're going to think about the most as you prepare for next year?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Absolutely. What I'm pissed about is that there's probably a hundred games before we can be back in the Finals. I don't know how to say it in English, but I'm going to have to hold that inside of me and slow down and wait and execute for a hundred games.

Q. Every team you faced so far, you guys always found a way to get over the top eventually. What did you learn about how hard it is to win the Finals against this Knicks team where they kept coming up with answers, and Brunson could score no matter what?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: I learned one of many things, the margin of error is very, very thin. Our domination stints are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes, are punished so hard that we can't have ups and downs like this. So much, you know.

The ups are okay. The downs is the reason we lost.

Q. You've studied the game. You understand the history of it. It took Michael seven years, LeBron nine, Jerry West 12 years to be a champion. Even the greatest ever, it's not immediate. How difficult is that to accept when you pour so much of yourself into this?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Extremely. It's painful. It's painful. But I'm not running away from that. I'm using that to fuel me. I'm sure all these guys you named, they're not satisfied with being eliminated in earlier rounds or not making the Playoffs.

I'm not satisfied with not winning. But as I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there's no better experience than what we just lived.

Q. You mentioned the margin for error in this series. After the fantastic regular season and the Playoff run, then especially the Conference Finals, winning that the way you did, did it surprise you that that margin of error caught up to you and you weren't able to capitalize?

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA: Yeah, for sure. It surprised me that every game has the same scenario. Every five games in the series had the same scenario, how relentless we were in our mistakes and they were in punishing them.

Appreciate y'all. See y'all never.