"It's OK to lose sleep over it": Wembanyama’s Finals pain is fueling the Spurs’ next chapter

Victor Wembanyama loves to sleep. The San Antonio Spurs star has made taking care of his body a priority, regularly getting double-digit hours of sleep and leaving events early when bedtime approaches. But after the Spurs' NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks , even Wembanyama struggled to get the rest he normally values so highly.

The disappointment followed him into the offseason. "It's been hard to fall asleep sometimes. Hard emotions," Wembanyama said Monday at Spurs media day. "But there is a point where you accept that you have to go through it. You have to feel all of it. We don't want to hide from anything."

For a team that reached the Finals much sooner than many expected, the defeat became a different kind of lesson. The Spurs were no longer simply a young team making progress, they had reached the NBA's biggest stage . Now, the standard is different.

The loss became part of the offseason

Harrison Barnes , one of the few Spurs players with a championship ring, offered a measured perspective. "It's OK to lose sleep over it. You can take a nap," Barnes said. "But the biggest thing is having that frame of reference. We're not trying to accelerate or get anywhere quicker than what's in front of us." The Spurs did not spend the summer trying to erase what happened.

They moved forward together. De'Aaron Fox, who played through a high ankle sprain during the playoffs, was one of the first to get teammates together for offseason workouts in Houston. Fox acknowledged that his own performance against New York could have been better.

A few weeks later, Wembanyama hosted Fox, Barnes, Carter Bryant, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, Jordan McLaughlin, Tobias Harris and Kelly Olynyk for a mini-camp in Nanterre, France, and Paris. For Wembanyama, bringing his teammates into his world was more than another series of workouts. It was a reminder of the relationships that have helped shape the Spurs' rise. The group has developed its chemistry through shared experiences, and that connection remained intact after the Finals loss.

Wembanyama has entered a different stage

The biggest difference heading into year 4 of Wembanyama's NBA career is the perception surrounding him. He is no longer simply the extraordinary young player who might eventually become one of the league's defining stars. He is already being treated like one.

That means the scrutiny changes, too. Wembanyama's performance in the Finals drew criticism from around the league, and the intensity of that attention was a new experience for a player who had spent much of his young career generating admiration.

The Knicks' championship celebration made the shift impossible to miss. Jalen Brunson and his teammates were captured chanting an expletive directed at Victor while celebrating their title. Wembanyama's response was revealing. He knows that level of scrutiny comes with being at the top of the league.

"It's too much, often. It's all a part of it," Wembanyama said. "This is not what I work for, but this is a symbol of success to some extent. It's the part I like the least about the Finals or the playoffs experience in general, but it's a good sign. So yeah, I still want it."

The NBA rarely allows teams to remain at the top indefinitely. The Golden State Warriors were the last team before the Spurs to return to the NBA Finals after losing the previous year's championship series, doing so in 2019 before eventually winning another title in 2022. The Spurs know that reaching the Finals once does not guarantee another appearance.

But they enter the new season with much of the foundation that carried them there still intact. They have Wembanyama, Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. They have veteran experience in Barnes and added Tobias Harris . And they have already experienced the intensity of a championship run together.