Regardless of a bummer of an ending, it was clearly a beautiful season for the Spurs. Victor Wembanyama morphed into arguably one of the best player on the earth, and proved that he may win on the highest ranges by main his workforce to an upset victory over the defending champion Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder within the Western Convention Finals. Wembanyama turns 23 in the course of subsequent season, and he’ll be the presumptive favourite to win his first MVP. Solely the Thunder are forward of the Spurs in our way-too-early energy rankings for the 2026-27 marketing campaign.
The scariest factor about Wembanyama is he nonetheless has a lot room to get higher. To me, the largest factor that may assist him stage up once more is determining a signature shot within the mid-range that he can all the time lean on when he doesn’t need to chuck a 3 and might’t get all the way in which to the rim. Within the playoffs, Wemby took an honest quantity of mid-range pictures, with 28% of his field-goal attempts approaching non-rim two-pointers. The issue is he solely made 35% of these pictures. Wemby clearly has good contact — he’s an 82% profession free throw shooter, and 34% profession three-point shooter — so I are inclined to assume he can get much more correct from the mid-range in time.
A video circulated from the Spurs’ offseason exercises, and it could concern the rest of the NBA. Wembanyama may be determining his mid-range sport in probably the most unstoppable attainable fashion: by mastering Dirk Nowitzki’s go-to fadeaway.
There’s a world the place that shot might be as unstoppable as a skyhook for Wembanyama. It’s going to be inconceivable to contest, and it provides him sufficient room to sq. his shoulders to the basket for a shot. The truth that Wemby is now sturdy sufficient to win the positioning battle on the bottom in opposition to his man solely makes this much more attractive. If Wembanyama can hit this with any consistency, it’s going to provide him much more scoring versatility for when the sport slows down within the playoffs.
Wembanyama’s continued development will be closely followed as the Spurs prepare for another NBA season.
Why Wembanyama’s Dirk Fadeaway Could Be Dangerous
The appeal of the shot goes beyond its visual similarity to Nowitzki’s famous move. For a player with Wembanyama’s unusual height and shooting range, a reliable fadeaway could become a difficult matchup because defenders have fewer practical ways to challenge a release taken well above their normal contesting position. The key question is whether he can turn the move from an offseason experiment into something he can create under playoff pressure.
That development would also give San Antonio another option when opponents successfully take away the rim and limit open three-point opportunities. Young stars often face increasingly sophisticated defensive game plans as their teams become contenders, and having a dependable shot from another area of the floor can make it harder for defenses to force a player into uncomfortable situations.
There is also a historical element to the comparison with Nowitzki. The former Dallas Mavericks star transformed the perception of what a seven-footer could do offensively, combining size with shooting ability and a distinctive one-legged fadeaway that became one of the defining shots of his career. Wembanyama is obviously a very different player, particularly because of his defensive impact and ability to play above the rim, but borrowing elements from an established scoring great could add another layer to his development.
The timing is particularly interesting because San Antonio is building around a young core rather than relying on a veteran star nearing the end of his career. Wembanyama still has substantial time to refine his offensive game, while the Spurs can afford to experiment with different ways of using him before the stakes become even higher.
A successful mid-range fadeaway would not necessarily need to become Wembanyama’s primary scoring method. Its value could come from being a dependable secondary option. If defenders know that he can attack the basket, shoot from three-point range and rise over them for a fadeaway, predicting his next move becomes considerably more difficult.
The Spurs will therefore have plenty of reasons to monitor Wembanyama’s offseason work closely. The move seen in workout footage does not guarantee that it will become a regular part of his game, but it illustrates the kind of offensive expansion that could make an already exceptional player even harder to defend.
For San Antonio, the broader objective is clear: continue adding reliable offensive tools around a player who has already established himself as a defensive force. If Wembanyama can develop a signature fadeaway alongside his existing strengths, the Spurs could have another weapon available when postseason defenses make every possession more difficult.
How the Fadeaway Could Expand Wembanyama’s Offense
Wemby may nonetheless be a couple of years away from his offensive peak. Proper now, it looks like he’s about as dominant defensively as anybody has ever been. It’s straightforward to think about Wembanyama and Dylan Harper and Stephon Fort reaching the NBA Finals 12 months after 12 months, however the actuality is that the NBA hasn’t even had a repeat convention champ for the reason that 2019 Golden State Warriors. Everybody thought LeBron James can be within the Finals yearly after he made it for the primary time in 2007. It seems James needed to depart Cleveland for the Miami Warmth earlier than he made his subsequent journey in 2011 … the place he misplaced to Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks.
The San Antonio Spurs will hope the young star can continue expanding his offensive repertoire.
Wembanyama ought to be including to his offensive arsenal each offseason. Starting to combine a Dirk fade into his sport can be the absolute best begin.
