The unstoppable ‘rule’ of Victor Wembanyama

There’s a simple principle in basketball: the team with Victor Wembanyama can always win. Whether that means the Spurs are already title contenders is something the regular season will eventually answer. For now, probably not – it’s early, and this project still needs a bit more time in the oven. But the team with Wembanyama can win anytime, anywhere. So, let’s just leave it there: we’ll see.

Wemby and the perfect start for Spurs

For now, the fact remains that a franchise with five championships and 22 consecutive playoff appearances has just opened a season with five straight wins for the first time ever. A perfect 5-0 record – unprecedented – capped by a 107-101 victory over the Miami Heat, their toughest test so far. It’s also the Spurs’ first five-game winning streak since March 2019. Get used to hearing “for the first time” with this group – and especially with their 21-year-old franchise player, the uncontainable Wembanyama.

At just 21 (gulp), he’s already an obvious MVP candidate and a near lock for Defensive Player of the Year every time he reaches the 65-game minimum required under current rules. In his seemingly limitless evolution, Wemby looks like a genuinely transformative player – the kind who changes the game itself. Seen that way, it’s fair to ask: could the Spurs actually be contenders in the West already?

Before the game, Bam Adebayo, whose Heat had been 3-0 against Wemby before this night, downplayed the constant talk about the Frenchman’s height: “There are a lot of tall guys in this league. I think it matters more to the people behind microphones than to those of us on the court.” Adebayo had plenty of good moments early on and at times looked like the most dominant big man on the floor. But in the end, not quite. Wembanyama finished with 27 points, 18 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 blocks.

Through the Spurs’ 5-0 start, he’s averaging 30.2 points, 14.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 4.8 blocks, 1.4 steals, and is shooting 56.3% from the field. But it’s not all about him – even if everything begins and ends with him. Stephon Castle (21 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals this time) continues to expand his Rookie of the Year credentials while rookie Dylan Harper (13 points, 4 assists) makes his presence felt as last draft’s No. 2 pick.

De’Aaron Fox hasn’t even debuted yet – once seen as a major acquisition to pair with Wemby, now perhaps a luxury (but a fine one) in a deep rotation. Devin Vassell (17 points, 9 rebounds) is thriving in his role, while contributions from players like Jordan McLaughlin off the bench and veteran glue guy Harrison Barnes round out the picture. The Spurs compete. After a crushing 28-14 third quarter (87-72), they survived a brutal 1-17 Heat run early in the fourth (88-89) but held on with sharp three-point shooting and relentless defensive pressure.

The Heat are playing well, too

To their credit, Erik Spoelstra’s Heat are moving the ball better and have modernized an offense that was once stagnant. That’s without Norman Powell and with Tyler Herro still adapting to their faster, more collective style. They mixed familiar defensive schemes – that signature zone that fueled their fourth-quarter comeback – with creative experiments, like switching strong guards such as Davion Mitchell onto Wemby. It nearly worked.

Miami stayed in the game deep into the final minutes but couldn’t finish. Adebayo ended with 31 points and 10 rebounds, Andrew Wiggins added 24 and 6, and Simone Fontecchio chipped in 18 off the bench. Still, the Heat’s 101 points marked their lowest total of the young season (now 3-2) – a testament to who they were up against.

Because the truth is, the NBA no longer needs to find answers about Victor Wembanyama. It needs to define him. And the simplest definition might just be this: as long as he’s on the court, his team can win. So far, in this young 2025-26 season, that principle has held true – five times out of five.

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San Antonio Spurs

Stats

40 Harrison Barnes
30 Julian Champagnie
1 Victor Wembanyama
5 Stephon Castle
24 Devin Vassell
18 Bismack Biyombo
11 Carter Bryant
2 Dylan Harper
55 Harrison Ingram
3 Keldon Johnson
25 David Jones-Garcia
0 Jordan McLaughlin
27 Riley Minix

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
40 Harrison Barnes	30	10	2	0	2	2	2	2	0	2/2	1/2	2/6	0	2	0
30 Julian Champagnie	30	2	5	2	3	2	1	2	1	0/0	1/2	0/4	0	1	0
1 Victor Wembanyama	39	27	18	2	16	6	3	1	5	6/8	9/18	1/5	0	3	0
5 Stephon Castle	35	21	6	1	5	8	2	4	1	5/7	5/8	2/4	0	4	0
24 Devin Vassell	37	17	9	1	8	1	1	0	1	1/2	2/4	4/12	0	2	0
18 Bismack Biyombo	7	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	1	0
11 Carter Bryant	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
2 Dylan Harper	24	13	2	0	2	4	2	0	0	1/2	3/5	2/5	0	1	0
55 Harrison Ingram	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
3 Keldon Johnson	23	11	3	2	1	1	0	0	0	2/2	3/5	1/2	0	1	0
25 David Jones-Garcia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Jordan McLaughlin	11	6	2	0	2	2	0	1	0	0/0	0/1	2/3	0	2	0
27 Riley Minix	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

Miami Heat

Stats

13 Bam Adebayo
22 Andrew Wiggins
7 Kel'el Ware
9 Pelle Larsson
45 Davion Mitchell
0 Simone Fontecchio
15 Myron Gardner
11 Jaime Jaquez Jr.
16 Keshad Johnson
5 Nikola Jović
12 Dru Smith
17 Jahmir Young
50 Vladislav Goldin

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
13 Bam Adebayo	37	31	10	1	9	3	2	1	1	3/4	8/14	4/13	0	2	0
22 Andrew Wiggins	35	24	6	3	3	2	2	2	0	0/2	9/13	2/5	0	2	0
7 Kel'el Ware	20	0	7	0	7	3	1	1	1	0/0	0/0	0/4	0	1	0
9 Pelle Larsson	26	5	3	0	3	3	1	0	0	0/0	1/2	1/3	0	2	0
45 Davion Mitchell	28	11	1	0	1	4	3	1	0	0/0	1/6	3/4	0	3	0
0 Simone Fontecchio	27	18	3	1	2	2	1	0	0	3/3	0/2	5/7	0	3	0
15 Myron Gardner	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
11 Jaime Jaquez Jr.	34	6	8	0	8	6	1	0	0	2/2	2/8	0/0	0	1	0
16 Keshad Johnson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Nikola Jović	9	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	0/0	0/4	0/1	0	2	0
12 Dru Smith	20	6	2	0	2	5	2	1	0	0/0	3/3	0/1	0	4	0
17 Jahmir Young	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
50 Vladislav Goldin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0