Victor Wembanyama's biggest disappointment could become the NBA's biggest problem

In the world of sports, difficult experiences tend to make players better. That's the case for Victor Wembanyama, whose underwhelming NBA Finals performance should set the stage for a dominant 2026-27 season. Tracy McGrady agrees with that sentiment.

"Because of the disappointment I think that happened to them this year, because of Wemby's performance in the Finals, I'm sure he's not happy with the way he played," he states on the Cousins With Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter podcast. "So that's going to motivate him in the offseason to even kick it up another notch."

I get it, Spurs fans. This year's NBA Finals were difficult to watch. There was nothing fun about the rollercoaster of emotions: the high of having the lead and momentum going into the fourth quarter, then losing it all by the sound of the final buzzer.

But that experience should light a fire under San Antonio, specifically the face of their franchise, who is set for a dynamic fourth season.

Victor learned a lesson a lot of 22-year olds don't learn

There's a short list of players in NBA history to have led their teams to the Finals at the age of 22 or below. Some names include Magic Johnson, LeBron James, and, of course, Victor Wembanyama. What do you notice about those first two guys? It's probably the fact that they went on to have some of the greatest careers of all time.

Their early NBA Finals experiences molded them into superstar-level players who dominated the league for years on end. You can argue that both of them can sit comfortably in anyone's top-ten all-time list.

Wemby can follow in their footsteps. At 22, he went through a crash course that many players in his age range don't experience. At that point, most guys are stuck on teams that are still in rebuild mode or lack any real direction.

For Victor, we don't have to wait and see if he's built for playoff basketball. He's already proven that he can compete on the highest stage; now it's time for him to take those lessons he learned and use them as fuel for an even more dominant fourth season.

Victor and the Spurs have a chance to do something rare

Throughout the 2020s, the list of teams to lose in the NBA Finals and come back to win it the next year is pretty short. The only close enough example would be the Celtics, who lost in 2022 but won in 2024.

That list is short due to a number of reasons. Some teams didn't do a good job at retaining key pieces or adding the right talent to keep up with the rest of the league. Or, even worse, maybe their best player didn't add the proper things to his game that would help his team maintain consistent success.

The Spurs can be the first group to break this trend. Their offseason additions, combined with the development of Wemby, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, and others, put them in an amazing position to secure a championship in 2027.

There's no question the Spurs have the tools to make another deep playoff run. I don't think there's a team in the league that's built better than them. But that doesn't mean anything if they don't use their NBA Finals experience to motivate them next season.

That's especially true for Wemby, who should use it as fuel to ignite an amazing individual year.

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