I was wrong. I was so wrong. I hope you all can forgive me.
Not 10 days ago I went on a whole charade about how the Thunder need to win this Finals so that they can create a bona fide villain, and Victor Wembanyama can assume the role of dragon slayer next year when he vanquishes the Thunder's mini-dynasty (2 championships is not nothing, right?) once and for all.
I was wrong. The Spurs are going to win the NBA Finals. And Victor Wembanyama will become the best player in the NBA in his THIRD season. And it is going to be awesome.
I was thinking about how inevitable the Thunder were all season long, how the season was basically cancelled within the first 20 games. How many times have we played that game? – "oh, these guys are on the verge of something incredible, I don't see how anyone can stop them…"
How many times has that actually come to fruition?
In the 2024 season the Celtics were so clearly and by far the best team in the league, the championship series was almost a formality. In the 2021 season the Suns jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Bucks. Kendrick Perkins said we were on the brink of a dynasty – and it sure looked like it. In the 2015 season, Steph Curry had arrived with no signs of slowing down, and Matthew and I (we were 14 at the time) said the only way LeBron ever wins another ring is if Steph Curry died.
Three teams from recent memory – off the top of my head – that seemed inevitable.
The Celtics kept their nucleus intact and under contract for years to come. They folded early in 2025 and choked big time in 2026.
The Suns had an ascending Devin Booker and a Deandre Ayton who people were (incorrectly) calling a top-15 player. They lost the next 4 games of the series, squandered their chance at a title, and haven't sniffed playoff success since.
The Warriors started off the next season going 73-9, the best regular season of all time – but the lights were too bright and failed to secure another championship with their 2015 core until 2022 – a seven-year gap for a team that was "inevitable".
I argued that the Spurs should lose so that they can come back stronger next year and begin their inevitable dynasty. But if I had been thinking with my head and not my heart, I would have realized that there's no such thing as inevitability in sports. The Lions had a couple strong seasons the past few years in which they fell just short two straight seasons; the national media knew that one day they'd get over that hump and win their Super Bowl – but they just finished up a 9-8 season where they placed last in their division.
There's no reason to suggest the Spurs are destined to avoid the same fate. One player gets hurt. One suspension. One off-court issue. One bad game. One instance of early-foul trouble. And even the best teams can falter – as the Thunder have just shown us.
And just because the Spurs are dominant now, who's to say others aren't coming? For the rest of his career, Wemby will have a target on his back. He will get every team and every player's best shot from now until 2044. Like the Warriors did in the 2016-2017 season, teams will assemble the greatest cast on paper just to stop one man. And unless he turns into a top 3 player of all time, there's no guarantee he'll be able to prevent this all-out assault from twenty-nine thirtieths of the association.
When I was watching Joe Burrow lose the Super Bowl in 2023, I remember thinking that it was a bummer, but it was good for Matthew Stafford as he is likely at the end of his road while Joe Burrow has a whole career ahead and will definitely be back. He has played in one of the last four postseasons.
There are countless great players who never even taste a championship. It's likely Victor Wembanyama will finish with multiple. But tomorrow is not guaranteed. And for me to have suggested otherwise was foolish.