DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama didn’t take long to help turn a 60-loss team into an NBA title contender.
San Antonio’s 7-foot-4 forward extraordinaire and his teammates will descend on Downtown’s Barclays Center on Thursday night, hoping to extend their season-high winning streak to 11 games against the rebuilding Brooklyn Nets.
The Spurs (42-16) climbed within two games of defending NBA champion and Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City with Wednesday’s 110-107 victory in Toronto.
And they did most of it without a dominant performance from Wembanyama.
The 22-year-old native of France went scoreless in the first half before finishing with 12 points, his lowest total since Dec. 23, on 3-of-12 shooting, including a 1-of-6 effort from 3-point range.
Wembanyama did pull down eight rebounds, including the game-sealing carom off a miss by Brandon Ingram, and block five shots in 30 minutes.
With a quick turnaround against the team with the league’s third-worst winning percentage, San Antonio might opt to sit their most valuable asset in the second half of a back-to-back.
But the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year may want to take advantage of the youngest roster in the league and help keep the Spurs’ streak alive as they pursue the top overall seed in the West.
With Wembanyama struggling to put up big numbers in Toronto, Devin Vassell led the way for San Antonio with 21 points and De’Aaron Fox, a player the Nets coveted while he was still plying his trade in Sacramento early last season, added 20.
Wembanyama hasn’t seen the Nets since Oct. 26, when he torched them for 31 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks.
The Spurs squandered a 26-point lead to Brooklyn that night, only to close the game on a 10-0 run to steal back their home opener.
The Nets will try to avoid their sixth straight loss and 23rd in 28 games since the start of the new year.
Second-year coach Jordi Fernández doesn’t have a Wembanyama to turn to as the Nets appear headed toward 60 losses and then some.
They dropped 56 in Fernández’s first campaign at the helm, but infused the roster with five first-round draft picks, including eighth overall selection Egor Dёmin and speedy point guard Nolan Traoré, both of whom have emerged as regular starters in February.
Brooklyn didn’t get what it needed from either NBA neophyte on Tuesday, dropping a 123-114 decision to visiting Dallas, which was without rookie sensation Cooper Flagg.
The duo combined for 11 points on 5-of-18 shooting, including Dёmin’s 1-of-7 from the field. Over the last two games, Traoré and his backcourt mate have gone 14-of-43.
Nets rookie Nolan Traoré hopes to get the best of fellow Frenchman Victor Wembanyama and the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Thursday in Downtown Brooklyn. Photo: Frank Franklin/AP
Desperate to see his team improve despite its inexperience, Fernández insists that age is just a number.
“I’ll never look at that like that, and I will never use age as an excuse,” he insisted following Tuesday’s defeat.
The Spurs, NBA champions five times during Tim Duncan’s dynastic tenure in San Antonio, didn’t rebuild immediately either.
They went 22-60 for the second straight season after grabbing Wembanyama first overall, and only managed 48 wins last year as their top player was shut down with thrombosis in his right shoulder in February.
Brooklyn is listed at full health heading into Thursday.
The Nets’ leading scorer, Michael Porter Jr., is coming off a 26-point effort against the Mavericks.
However, he and fellow veteran Nic Claxton only managed to pull down four rebounds, all by Brooklyn’s high-flying center, as Dallas held a 44-28 advantage on the boards.
Fernández is expecting better from his top two rebounders on Thursday.
“So, we missed (Porter) grabbing those rebounds. What the reason is, I don’t know, because I’ll watch it on film,” the coach said.
“Do I need them to grab more rebounds? Yes. … They’re great rebounders. You know, I still think they’re great rebounders. They proved it. Both of them.”
Nic Claxton and Michael Porter Jr., Brooklyn’s top two rebounders, only combined for four boards in Tuesday’s home loss to Dallas. Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP
Tip-off at Barclays is slated for 7:30 p.m.
The game will air locally on the YES Network.
After finishing off this two-game homestand, the Nets will have a quick turnaround of their own Friday night in Boston.