The 2026 NBA Finals are over, and so too is the San Antonio Spurs’ dream of raising a sixth championship banner in the rafters at Frost Bank Center – at least for now.

If Victor Wembanyama had his way, the Spurs’ next game would be Game 1 of the 2027 NBA Finals.

The Spurs can’t skip ahead to next June, but Wemby’s belief that the team will return to championship contention by then speaks volumes about his confidence.

“I’m not satisfied with not winning,” Wemby said. “This is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there is no better experience than what we just lived.”

So, what lessons will resonate with the Spurs the most as they head into the offseason? Following their disappointing NBA Finals loss, here are five takeaways from those who lived it.

Throughout the season, much of what the Spurs heard was that they were too young and inexperienced. They proved that narrative wrong – until the NBA Finals, when their youth and naivety finally caught up with them. “Experience comes from making mistakes,” Wemby said. “We don’t lack talent. We don’t lack ability. We just make too many mistakes. I make too many mistakes.” Now, with 23 playoff games under their belt, hopefully the Spurs can reflect on the battle scars they’ve earned and know what it will take to finish the job.

Wemby said he plans to use the emotional pain he’s feeling from the Finals loss as fuel to motivate him for what he covets most – an NBA championship. It’s something coach Mitch Johnson told the team in the locker room after the game. “I want them to feel all the emotions,” he said. “Whatever they feel, that’s real. That’s competitiveness. That’s what makes you better. That’s what pushes you to continue to improve in the dark, long hours when nobody’s around.”

It’s been a wild first postseason for Wemby – from suffering a concussion to getting ejected to hitting a logo three – but all of it has made him a better leader. “I think [his leadership] has grown tremendously,” Johnson said. “I think he stepped into every moment with the appropriate amount of fearlessness and respect for the moment and being exactly who he is. He’s bringing his teammates and everybody else along with him. It’s been fun to observe and be a part of.”

If the Spurs learned anything about a specific player this postseason, it’s that their rookie Dylan Harper is ready for the spotlight. “I think we all knew he was talented, [but] I don’t know if anybody knew he was this talented – besides himself,” Devin Vassell said. “When we needed him most, he stepped up. We have a star in the making.” Coming off the bench, Harper averaged 18 points in the Finals, the second most on the team after Wemby (26 PPG), and shot 49% from the field.

Wemby said the biggest lesson he learned about the Finals was that the margin of error was much thinner than the first three rounds of the playoffs. “We absolutely dominated for most of the series, but our mistakes [were] punished so hard,” he said. “It’s the reason we lost.” Vassell added that their self-inflicted errors cost them multiple games. “Every possession matters and every little detail matters,” he said. “You can mess up some stuff in the regular season and kind of get away with it, but obviously in the Finals – with everything being amplified – one mistake can cost you.”