SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama admitted at media day on Monday that he still hasn't recovered from last season's 4-1 series loss to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
Still, that disappointment hasn't placed a damper on optimism for the upcoming season.
"It evolves with time," Wembanyama said of the emotional toll he's still experiencing. "But I've had a few [nights where it's] hard to find sleep sometimes or hard emotions. But there's just a point where you accept that you have to go through it, and you have to feel all of it. We're going to face these emotions. We're in a great spot. We're very hopeful, very ambitious and ready."
The league's first unanimous winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award, Wembanyama comes off the shortest offseason of his NBA career, which enters Year 4. The Frenchman still found productive ways to prepare for an upcoming season the team believes will be more difficult than 2025-26.
In addition to spending time training with NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon, Wembanyama and several Spurs teammates visited De'Aaron Fox in the Houston area for workout sessions at his in-home court. Wembanyama later hosted teammates in France for training and sightseeing, calling the fellowship "really touching, really emotional."
"Obviously, we have to go through some emotions, and you do some of that alone, but it's better to do it as a team," Wembanyama said. "I took a lot of positive things from everything we did this summer, just being together honestly. It was amazing."
Third-year guard Stephon Castle described the team's visit with Wembanyama in France as galvanizing.
"It brings us together, brings the guys back around each other," Castle said. "There were no coaches there, just players. [We were] able to talk through some things and work on our game together. It's still after a tough loss. It's not like we're just leaving it there. But being able to come together after something like that and make something positive was definitely beneficial for us."
Wembanyama, with teammate Harrison Barnes in tow, also spent time in August training with a professional rugby team in France. Wembanyama called those workouts "really good for the vestibular system" with "new movement patterns and new ways to develop strength."
Of course, Wembanyama isn't the only Spur still carrying scars from the team's first trip to the NBA Finals since 2014. Mitch Johnson, coming off his first full season as the team's head coach, said it's "been nice to have some time to take a deep breath and reflect on everything." Castle pointed out what "will stay with me the longest is just how close we were to winning it. It'll shape our character for really the rest of our lives."
Barnes, meanwhile, called the whole Finals experience "shared heartbreak," while Fox stressed the difficulty San Antonio faces in returning to the NBA's grandest stage.
"If we happen[ed] to win 60 games this year, I don't think anyone would pat us on the back," Barnes said. "That would be more expected. For us, it's a matter of the focus we have every single day in terms of our standard we're setting for ourselves and comparing it against that. This team has playoff experience. So, you know what you're up against. I don't think it's one of those things where you simply carry momentum from one season to the next. You have to come back and start the journey from Day 1 again.
"In every championship team you look at, there was that moment where the team fell short and it was very painful. I think it just sharpens your focus, sharpens your discipline when you talk about what it takes versus not having that experience."