Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs let another Finals game slip from their fingers against the Knicks, and this time it lost them the championship. After blowing yet another lead in Game 5’s loss, the Spurs had to watch New York celebrate their NBA title on their home court in San Antonio as the Knicks clinched a 94-90 victory and won its first chip in 53 years.
Wembanyama didn’t stick around long, as he notably left the court and walked straight into the players’ tunnel without shaking any hands. The usually soft-spoken Spurs phenom later took the podium for a somber postgame press conference in which he rued his team not being able to cap off its incredible playoff run with any hardware.
“What I’m pissed about is there are probably 100 games before we can be back in the Finals. I don’t know how to say that in English, but I’m going to have to slow down, wait and execute for 100 games,” Wembanyama told reporters.
The 22-year-old had just seen his team lose in devastating fashion to the Knicks despite leading for the majority of Game 5—and for the majority of the Finals series. San Antonio led New York for 72% of the four-game series yet won just one game.
Wembanyama addressed the Spurs’ blown leads and brutal collapses that ultimately cost them a ring:
“One of many things I’ve learned is the margin of error is very, very thin,” Wembanyama said. “Our domination instincts are absolute. We absolutely dominated for most of the series. But our errors, our mistakes are punished so hard. We can’t have ups and downs like this, the ups are okay, the downs are the reason we lost.”
At the same time, there was a silver lining to the Spurs’ loss, Wembanyama added. He acknowledged how much experience he gained in the Finals even if it didn’t end the way he wanted it to.
“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” Wembanyama said. “I can’t tell 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.”
"I can't tell exactly what the lesson is, but we're learning from that for sure."
— ESPN (@espn) June 14, 2026
Wemby after losing in the NBA Finals in 5 games. pic.twitter.com/X8VLIVamnj
How Victor Wembanyama performed in Game 5 elimination of NBA Finals vs. Knicks
In previous playoff series this year, Wembanyama showed he had the talent and resilience to rise to the occasion in big games, but on Saturday night he showed more flaws than anything else. The Spurs phenom finished with 19 points on 7-of-19 shooting, including sinking just 1-of-6 three-pointers. He started off strong with five blocks in the first half but got into some foul trouble that saw him spend a chunk of the second quarter on the bench, when the Spurs held a narrow lead.
By the end, Wembanyama looked tired and gassed and completely unable to take over the game, lacking the drive and dominance that one might expect from a team’s bona fide superstar. He missed a key free throw with roughly two minutes remaining in the fourth (the Spurs were down 88-85 at that point), and then he let Knicks center Mitchell Robinson notch a crucial offensive rebound off a missed free throw with 22.2 seconds left.
Throughout a rollercoaster of a debut playoff run, Wemby has truly seen it all. He’s experienced the highs, when he won the Western Conference Finals series over the Thunder and couldn’t hold back his tears, and now he’s experienced the lows.
“I’m not running away from that, I’m using that to fuel me. ... I’m not satisfied with not winning. As I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life,” Wembanyama said of Saturday night’s loss.
