Spurs surge to Finals as young core stuns

Spurs reach – Victor Wembanyama and a remarkably young Spurs roster will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals beginning Wednesday, June 3 after San Antonio beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in Game 7. The Spurs enter with an average age of 25.06 and a culture bui

When the final buzzer sounded on Game 7, the Spurs didn’t just claim a Western Conference series—they claimed a future. San Antonio beat the Thunder 111-103 on its home floor, turning a tightly contested night into a statement with seven players reaching double figures.

Now the young Spurs will play for the title against the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. The series begins on Wednesday. June 3. with the Spurs carrying momentum. a deep rotation. and a roster whose average age is 25.06—making San Antonio the second-youngest team to reach an NBA Finals in the shot clock era.

Victor Wembanyama. 22. will be the headline again. but the Spurs’ path has been built across a younger supporting cast: Stephon Castle is 21. and Dylan Harper is 20. Even head coach Mitch Johnson is still close to the age bracket many teams build around. At 39. and in his first full season on the job. Johnson would become the fifth-youngest head coach to win an NBA championship since 1970 if San Antonio captures the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

San Antonio’s advance has often been framed as speed—“ahead of schedule,” as the talk goes. But Johnson pushed back on the simpler story after the win over Oklahoma City, pointing instead to the habits that show up long after the highlight clips.

“People don’t talk as much about the habits. the character. the togetherness. the competitive response — the things we talk about in these media sessions every single day. ” Johnson said May 30. following the Game 7 win. He added that the team has been “pretty damn consistent” for “over 100 games for the most part.”.

Johnson also tied the Spurs’ present to the season’s difficult chapters. describing how their run through multiple playoff series came with absences that forced the roster to keep adapting. He referenced how San Antonio started the year facing expectations. then went to the NBA Cup on the road versus Denver and L.A. played the Thunder “around Christmastime” multiple times. and ultimately navigated three playoff series “(at times) without Victor. without (De’Aaron) Fox multiple games.” He said he doesn’t know who has as much experience as this team had “this year. in terms of the 2025-2026 season.”.

The Game 7 details only reinforce that point. Julian Champagnie scored 20 points and dropped 11 in the third quarter. Backup center Luke Kornet played just six minutes. yet his impact came at a key moment: he hustled back during a pivotal Thunder fastbreak to pin a momentum-changing block against the backboard. an eventual four-point swing.

De’Aaron Fox was a menace on defense all night, collecting three steals, and later finding his shooting stroke. Dylan Harper knocked down huge shots down the stretch and scored 12 points off the bench on 5-of-8 shooting. Backup Keldon Johnson—the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year—hit two massive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. both coming when the Thunder had trimmed the deficit to two points.

And under it all is the Spurs’ internal succession story. Johnson. who came up in the organization and was hand-picked to be Gregg Popovich’s successor. now leads a team that has been built on “hard work and discipline. ” growth and learning. and consistency. The front office. Johnson’s comments suggest. isn’t simply trying to ride a single star—it’s building a structure and “empowering players to own their results.”.

That matters because the West isn’t finished with the Spurs yet, even after the Thunder fell. The Timberwolves. featuring Anthony Edwards. and the Nuggets. with three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokić. are described as teams that are “always lurking.” But first. the Spurs must clear the obstacle directly in front of them: the Knicks.

New York arrives with defensive responsibilities and offensive momentum that San Antonio can’t afford to underestimate. OG Anunoby, an NBA All-Defensive second-team selection, is expected to be the primary defender on Wembanyama. At the same time. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are leading an offense that has posted the most dominant stretch in league history over any 11-game stretch.

For San Antonio, that means Wembanyama will need help beyond scoring—other Spurs “will need to step up,” as the stakes rise and the matchup tightens.

After the win, Wembanyama spoke in the simple language of someone finally seeing the moment become real. “Winning the Larry O’Brien, it’s a childhood dream,” he said after Game 7. “Having a real shot at it. Having a chance — a tangible chance at winning it — at realizing a dream, it’s a lifetime chance. You never know when it’s going to happen again.”.

He added: “The day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day of the realization of a dream. It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”

For a franchise that is still young enough to seem improbable, the Finals offer a test far more demanding than youth alone. The Spurs can win with Wembanyama—but they’ll have to prove they can defend, adapt, and sustain their identity against a Knicks team built to strike back.

Spurs Knicks NBA Finals Victor Wembanyama Mitch Johnson De’Aaron Fox OG Anunoby Jalen Brunson Karl-Anthony Towns Luke Kornet Keldon Johnson Dylan Harper Stephon Castle Julian Champagnie