Victor Wembanyama now has the franchise record for most points in an NBA regular-season opener with 40, passing George Gervin’s 39 points in 1977.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs started their 2025-2026 campaign with a bang Wednesday night after a 125-92 shellacking of their in-state rivals Dallas Mavericks.
At the forefront of that domination was Victor Wembanyama, making his first appearance in a Spurs uniform since he went down with deep vein thrombosis in February.
Let’s just say he didn’t skip a beat, in fact, based on this performance, he may have taken the next step.
Wemby now has the franchise record for most points in an NBA regular-season opener with 40, passing George Gervin’s 39 points in 1977. In 1974, when the Spurs were in the ABA, James Silas also scored 40, albeit that doesn’t count in the NBA record books.
Not only did he score 40, but he was also efficient in the process, shooting 15/21 from the field, 1/2 from three, and 9/11 from the free throw line.
Objectively, everything looked easy for Wemby, as he towered over defenders and took advantage when he could. He made 4-time All-Defensive player Anthony Davis look like a guard trying to guard him at times. He showed off impressive post moves, unworldly dunks, and of course electrifying defense.
“It’s like playing against your dad in the driveway when you’re eight years old,” Jay Bilas said on the call after Wemby empathetically sent Mavs center Dereck Lively’s hook shot back. He followed that block by making an absurd and-one step-back 3-pointer. What other player can do that in back-to-back plays?
He was one of four players in the NBA to score at least 40 in their season debut this season (Luke Doncic, Tyrese Maxey and Anthony Edwards were the others), the first time that’s happened in NBA history.
He also grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked three blocks. His +31 plus/minus also lead the team.
Oh yeah, and he only played 30 minutes. The other three 40-point scorers played at least 39 minutes each.
After a pretty competitive first half, the Spurs ended the second quarter on a 15-3 run and didn’t look back. They really took over in the second half, outscoring the Mavs 33-21 in the third and 32-20 in the fourth.
Wemby wasn’t the only former Rookie of the Year who impressed for the Silver & Black Wednesday night. Stephon Castle quietly had a great game coming off his award-winning rookie year. He poured in 22 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 6 assists while shooting 8/12 from the field.
Dylan Harper also made his first appearance for the Spurs off the bench. After a quiet start to the game, he ended his debut with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists shooting 7/14 from the field.
If it weren’t for former Baylor Bear VJ Edgecombe in Philadelphia (34 points in his debut, the third most by any rookie in NBA history and the most since 1959), he might’ve been the most impressive rookie in the league over the first few games.
Carter Bryant played briefly in his NBA debut, not scoring but grabbing two rebounds in nine minutes.
On the other side, the only player picked above Dylan Harper in the 2025 draft made his NBA debut: Cooper Flagg.
The youngest player in the league at 18 had several “Welcome to the NBA” moments as he didn’t score his first points until the opening seconds of the second half, finishing with 10 points but on 4/13 shooting. He did come down with 10 rebounds but had a team worst -29 plus/minus.
If you want to compare Flagg’s debut to Wemby’s first game in the NBA, Victor had 15 points, 5 rebounds on 6/9 shooting in 2023 in a loss to these same Mavericks. Two years later and Wemby more than doubled that production, so I wouldn’t panic if I was a Mavs fan. Flagg also won’t be going against a 7’4″ French monster every game either, just four times a year.
If this domination says anything, it’s that the Spurs may be ready to make their long-awaited return to the NBA playoffs. Their last time in the postseason was six years ago, the second longest drought in the NBA and the longest drought in the western conference.
If Wemby has to say anything about it this season, that drought might be ending come this April.