Victor Wembanyama Drops 41 Points and 24 Rebounds as Spurs Stun Thunder in Double-OT Western Conference Finals Game 1
Victor Wembanyama just did something only Wilt Chamberlain had done before him. The Oklahoma City Thunder are heading to Game 2 down 0-1 in the Western Conference Finals because of it.
Wembanyama finished with 41 points, 24 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Thunder 122-115 in double overtime on Monday night in the series opener. It was just the sixth Game 1 in NBA playoff history to go to double OT, and the first since the Spurs and Warriors did it back in 2013.
Some context for what he just pulled off. At 22 years and 134 days old, Wembanyama became the youngest player in NBA history to record a 40-20 game in the postseason. He is the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1960 to drop 40 and 20 in his conference finals debut. He is the second Spur ever to log a 40-20 in any playoff game, joining David Robinson in 1996.
The numbers are absurd. The way he did it was more absurd. Wembanyama scored from the post. He scored from the elbow. He hit a pull-up three to push the game to a second overtime. He bothered every shot at the rim and grabbed every loose rebound. He looked like the player the Spurs have been promising since they won the 2023 lottery, only fully formed three years ahead of schedule.
Dylan Harper was the running mate. The No. 2 overall pick from the 2025 draft finished with 24 points and seven steals, which is a team playoff record for the Spurs. Harper is 19 years old. He looked like a five-year vet running the offense down the stretch of an overtime game.
Stephon Castle added 17 points. Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson scored 13 each. Julian Champagnie chipped in 11. Even without De’Aaron Fox, who sat with ankle stiffness, the Spurs played like the more talented team for most of the night.
That has to terrify the rest of the conference. Fox is supposed to be a top-three player on this roster.
The Thunder were not bad. Alex Caruso scored 31 points off the bench. Jalen Williams had 26. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24. Those are starting numbers from three of the most efficient scorers in the league. They lost anyway.
The reason was Wembanyama. The Thunder did not have an answer for him. Chet Holmgren came up small. Isaiah Hartenstein could not stay in front of the post-ups. Lu Dort had to switch onto Wemby in late actions and that became its own disaster.
This was supposed to be the Thunder’s series. Oklahoma City won the West with a deep team and a former MVP. The Spurs were the upstart with the generational talent and not enough supporting cast. Game 1 just flipped that script entirely. San Antonio is the more terrifying team in this series until somebody proves otherwise.
The legacy stuff is real. Wembanyama is now in the Wilt and David Robinson category for postseason performances at this stage of a career. He has been compared to Hakeem and Bill Russell since high school. The comparisons are starting to feel earned, not aspirational.
The Thunder need to make adjustments before Wednesday or this series goes 4-1. Mark Daigneault has to find a way to bother Wembanyama on the catch, not the shot. SGA needs to play 42 minutes. Holmgren needs to play like a former No. 2 overall pick instead of getting pushed around by a 22-year-old Frenchman. None of those are easy.
San Antonio is winning this series. That was not a sentence anyone was writing before Monday night. Wembanyama wrote it for them.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
