Shaquille O'Neal Makes Bold Victor Wembanyama Claim

The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

Each of San Antonio’s victories came when superstar center Victor Wembanyama scored 30 or more points. In the Spurs’ two losses against the reigning NBA champions, the 7-foot-4 Frenchman failed to reach that 30-point mark.

Wembanyama recorded 41 points and 24 rebounds in the Spurs’ thrilling double-overtime Game 1 victory in Oklahoma City. Through Sunday night’s blowout Game 4 win in San Antonio, he had 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals.

Wembanyama scored 21 and 26 points in Game 2 and Game 4, respectively.

In preparation for Tuesday night’s critical Game 5 matchup, Shaquille O’Neal made a strong claim about Wembanyama’s impact on the series.

“None of that matters if my guy gets 30-40 points. If my guy is dominating like that, OKC don’t have a chance,” O’Neal said. “Cause Chet [Holmgren] ain’t going to do nothing.”

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Wembanyama is averaging 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds and three blocks per game in the Western Conference Finals so far. Just as they have all season, the Spurs will lean on him to deliver another impressive performance in Game 5.

“We didn’t do nothing unexpected, but the truth is we had never been in this kind of situation before,” Wembanyma said after Game 4. “It was our first deficit in a playoff series, and we just responded. But it was nothing amazing. It wasn’t magic. We just did what we needed to do. The series is far from over. We’ve got [to get] six more wins before we can rest.”

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Game 5 will tipoff at 8:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 7:14 PM.