While Victor Wembanyama is poised to be the face of the San Antonio Spurs franchise and perhaps the NBA for the foreseeable future, one former Spurs big man is calling out the superstar for some flaws in his game after the team’s NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks.
David West, a two-time NBA champion who spent one season with the Spurs in 2015-16, wrote a post on X about a weakness in the Frenchman’s game.
Ex-Spurs Big Man David West Critiques a Weakness In Victor Wembanyama’s Game
After the Spurs were defeated in five games by the Knicks in the NBA Finals, West wrote on X: “7”6 and no postgame or back to the basket game. Wild business.”
7″6 and no post game or back to the basket game. Wild business.
— David West (@D_West30) June 14, 2026
To West’s point, Wembanyama is unstoppable downhill and in lob situations, is equally impressive on rebounds and putbacks thanks to his incredible wingspan, and he has impressive range as a shooter. However, it was clear throughout the Finals that one element of his game remains underdeveloped, as Wembanyama struggled to post-up his defender in the paint.
It meant the Knicks’ frontcourt duo of Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns, who are much stronger and bulkier, were able to match up well against Wembanyama. Both were largely able to stop Wembanyama from dominating in the paint due to their physicality, strength, quick feet, and post defense.
Credit must also go to coach Mike Brown for having his Knicks squad so well prepared. Towns defended Wembanyama perfectly for the most part in one-on-one scenarios, and there was always a Knicks player switching to provide help in the gaps. The Knicks as a team did well to rotate, bump, and contest whenever he rolled to the basket, leaving Wembanyama little room to operate.
In the end, Wembanyama often made costly errors down the stretch in big moments throughout the series, showing his age.
Perhaps the flaws that West points out could be a focus for the Frenchman this offseason. It’s worth noting that NBA champion Iman Shumpert made a similar point after the Spurs’ Game 5 loss, saying that Wembanyama needs to spend the offseason working with Tim Duncan to develop offensively and figure out a go-to move.
Wembanyama is still only 22 years old, so his prime years are still ahead of him. Despite his young age, he finished top-three in this year’s NBA MVP race and proved he can lead a franchise to an NBA Finals; his trajectory continues to point upward. He made it clear that he’s going to learn from this experience and use it to fuel his fire.
“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” he told reporters. “I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning from that, for sure. I’m learning more than any other time in my life before… This has been a hell of a year in terms of experience. I don’t think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one Playoff run and in one season, and personally in 18 months. It’s been hard and full of lessons… As a team, there’s no better experience than what we just lived.”
