With the NBA season less than three weeks away, it’s right around that time when everybody begins making their predictions for which teams can make the playoffs and challenge for a championship. The East has a couple of clear favorites in the Cavs and Knicks, but out West, there isn’t much agreement beyond the Thunder once again being the team to beat.
Advertisement
The Nuggets have people’s attention due to their offseason moves. Now Nikola Jokic has some more help after taking OKC to seven games last year, which is a scary thought. The Rockets are in the mix now that they have Kevin Durant, but Fred VanVleet’s torn ACL may change that. The Wolves are the only team to reach the conference finals the last two years, and the Lakers will be in the mix with a full season of Luka and LeBron together.
Celtics analyst Brian Scalabrine has another team to watch out for if one player can take a big leap: the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama. Wemby missed a big chunk of last season with a blood clot in his shoulder, but he has a clean bill of health entering this year. He’ll be helped by No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper and a couple of underrated acquisitions in Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynyk.
“If he can stay healthy this year,” Scalabrine said of Wemby, “I think the Spurs have a chance to make the conference finals in the Western Conference. If you fully understand how difficult the Western Conference is, and how many teams that I could be putting them ahead of, that’s the most compliment I can give Wembanyama.”
“I’m super high on the Spurs.”@Scalabrine tells @TheFrankIsola why he sees an avenue for the Spurs to have a ton of success this season#GoSpursGo pic.twitter.com/LLkpMS9r01
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) October 2, 2025
Wemby was the most anticipated prospect to come along since LeBron James for a reason, and he’s shown in his brief time in the NBA that he has the potential to be one of the best players in the game. Defensively, he’s already there. He would have cruised to the Defensive Player of the Year award last year if he had played enough games, but that blood clot kept him short.
Scalabrine compares the young Frenchman to another European who came to dominate on both ends of the court. “If he’s an MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, like if he’s along the lines of that, very similar to when Giannis broke through in 2019-20, then I think the Spurs have a chance to be incredible.”
There are definitely enough pieces around Wemby that the Spurs can be dangerous if he can stay on the floor. This will be Wemby’s first full season with De’Aaron Fox after the former Kings guard came over in a February trade. Stephon Castle is coming off a Rookie of the Year-winning season. Harrison Barnes is a winning piece.
People like Kendrick Perkins have expected Wemby to rule the NBA from the moment the Spurs drafted him. Is this the year he begins his reign?
