In 2025, when the San Antonio Spurs prepared to face the Phoenix Suns in the first game of the I-35 Series in Moody Center, disaster struck. Star center Victor Wembanyama was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, and it was announced he’d miss the rest of the regular season. The Spurs would finish the year with a 34-48 record, 13th in the Western Conference.
A year later, the Spurs faced the Suns again in the same arena Thursday, but in a radically different situation. Wembanyama is leading the second-best team in the Western Conference, which dealt with Phoenix 121-94 in front of a raucous crowd, improving to 38-16. It’s the first time in the history of the I-35 Series that the Spurs will leave Austin with a winning record.
“We’re trying to build towards something,” Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox said. “This is the first time a lot of guys have played meaningful basketball after the (All-Star) break.”
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At the All-Star game last year, Wembanyama said he felt the worst he had ever felt on a basketball court in his life. Although he acknowledged he was still growing into his conditioning and his body, the eventual diagnosis explained much of what ailed him, he said.
It set the Spurs, who were set up to compete for a play-in spot, into a tailspin. They’d win only nine of their final 28 games, as the young team spent another season searching for what lay beyond the losses. But Wembanyama reframed the misfortune as an opportunity.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) leads the team and fans in a cheer after the Spurs 121-94 win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, Feb. 19, 2026 in the first of two “I-35 Series” games in Austin at the Moody Center.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
“I think there’s no better experience to grow than when your backs against the wall,” Wembanyama said.
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The Spurs’ evolution from their last time in Austin was evident against the Suns. Guard Stephon Castle has evolved into one of San Antonio’s primary ball-handlers, recording 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting despite being streaky as a rookie. Fox scored a team-high 26 points when San Antonio defeated Phoenix in 2025, but he trailed both Wembanyama and Castle in shot attempts this time around.
Fox has experience as the primary option from his time with the Sacramento Kings. However, when a team has a 7-foot-5 center that combines the skills of a guard with Defensive Player of the Year-level instincts, the gravity of a court warps.
In one sequence, Wembanyama received a pass from Fox just inside the arc and, without dribbling, took two steps, leaped and posterized two Suns defenders. The Frenchman finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and five blocks in 25 minutes.
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“When you have Vic out there, how much can you key in on me?” Fox said.
Next for the Spurs
The Spurs are riding a seven-game win streak and are 2.5 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, the top team in the Western Conference. But despite the improved play, they’re still a team without a wealth of playoff experience.
Fox, one of the few veterans with playoff scars, said the group must be ready for more physicality, a faster level of play and fewer foul calls as the postseason approaches. He acknowledges there have been times this season when the Spurs have played down to their competition.
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Wembanyama offers a counter to the complacency that can arise among the team. He showed a
“If you have a jersey on and you’re in front of him, he wants to kill,” Fox said. “So that makes the team mentality. It makes you just pick up your level of play.”
The Spurs have grown a lot since their last trip to Moody Center. Although Wembanyama acknowledged the difficulty of the journey back from his illness, he said that it has been “very much worth it.”
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Wembanyama is happy with where the Spurs are as a team and how far he’s come on his journey back to the court. But the titanically tall superstar will not rest on his laurels, not when there are even greater heights for him to reach.
“There’s just so much more room to grow,” Wembanyama said.