How Spurs didn't take Wemby's latest NBA honor for granted

In a moment underscoring how the Spurs do not take Victor Wembanyama’s greatness for granted, the team’s longest-tenured current player heaped praise on the franchise cornerstone Monday night for collecting his fourth career NBA Western Conference Player of the Week honor and the first of this season.

Wembanyama’s coaches and teammates congratulated him before Monday night’s 119-97 pounding of Utah, but forward Keldon Johnson went out of his way to heap more praise on the 22-year-old French superstar after the game.

Wembanyama collected the award after leading the Spurs to a 3-0 record while averaging 36.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.3 blocks, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals in 33.1 minutes while connecting on 56.3% of his shots from the field.

“I’m proud of him,” Johnson, who recorded season highs with 15 points and seven rebounds Monday, told reporters from the podium at the Frost Bank Center.

 “I know the sky’s the limit for Vic as long as he just continues to stack days,” the 2026 NBA Sixth Man of the Year said. “Vic is an amazing talent, tremendous talent, but he’s there because of his habits and his work ethic. And you can’t deny his dedication to the game and what he’s put in. And when you see what comes out of it, you’re not surprised because each and every day he’s the first one in the gym, last one out. And he takes care of his body.

“He does all the extra things to make sure he performs at a high level. So, like I said, we congratulate him. We’re proud of him and we know he’ll continue to get better and be better.”

Wembanyama will enter Wednesday night’s nationally televised game against Cooper Flagg and Dallas averaging 25.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a league-best 4.0 blocks per game. He had 12 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal in 24 minutes Monday.

It was Wembanyama’s fifth double-double of the season.

The Spurs (5-2) will face the Mavericks (4-3) riding high on a five-game winning streak.

The game starts at 8:30 and will be televised by ESPN. It’s the final game of a three-game homestand before the Spurs begin a four-game road trip at Sacramento at 9 p.m. Friday.

Subscribe

There’s more to San Antonio with the Express-News. Subscribe today for just 25¢.

This article originally published at How Spurs didn’t take Wemby’s latest NBA honor for granted.