The confetti had barely settled inside Madison Square Garden before Shaquille O’Neal delivered a dose of cold truth to San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama. After watching his team fall in five games to the New York Knicks — including a second-half collapse in Game 5 where a 16-point lead evaporated into a 94-90 loss — Wembanyama’s first NBA Finals trip ended with a lesson no highlight reel can teach.
Speaking on ESPN’s Inside The NBA, O’Neal didn’t mince words about what the 7-foot-4 Defensive Player of the Year needs to do this summer. “As good as he is, he’s going to need to get stronger. Because when you become a dominant big man, people are going to force, and a lot of times he couldn’t handle it,” Shaq said. “So, I don’t know what he’s going to do this summer, but he definitely needs to get in that weight room and get stronger.”
O’Neal pointed to specific moments in Game 5 — and throughout the series — where Knicks bigs physically moved Wembanyama off his spots. For a player who just led the Spurs to the Western Conference title while winning his first Defensive Player of the Year award, the message was clear: talent alone doesn’t guarantee rings.
Mitch Johnson Sees the Bigger Picture
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson took a broader view after the loss, praising Wembanyama’s growth over the 2025-26 season. “I think it’s grown tremendously,” Johnson said. “I think he’s stepped into every moment with the appropriate amount of fearlessness and also respect for the moment and being exactly who he is. And he’s bringing his teammates and everybody else along with him. It’s been pretty fun to observe and be a part of.”
That growth included a historic defensive season and a playoff run that saw San Antonio erase years of rebuilding talk. But the Finals exposed a gap between being great and being physically unguardable — the same gap Shaq himself crossed after getting bullied early in his own career.
The Knicks’ front line, anchored by bruising defenders who never let Wembanyama get comfortable, turned the series into a test of strength as much as skill. By Game 5, the Spurs had blown a 29-point lead in Game 4 and lost another double-digit advantage in the clincher — collapses that pointed to the need for a more imposing presence in the paint.
Johnson made clear that the foundation is set. Now it’s up to Wembanyama to decide if he wants to spend his summer adding the kind of muscle that turns a breakout season into a dynasty start.
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