{"id":676864,"date":"2026-05-31T23:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676864\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T23:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:44:09","slug":"im-proud-of-you-victor-wembanyamas-vital-on-bench-support-of-rookie-carter-bryant-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676864\/","title":{"rendered":"“I\u2019m proud of you” – Victor Wembanyama\u2019s vital on-bench support of rookie Carter Bryant revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as fans will look at the box score and see that Victor Wembanyama<\/a> led the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> to their first NBA Finals appearance in 12 years by dominating the Western Conference Finals, his impact extended far beyond registering series-high points, rebounds, and blocks.<\/p>\n

Moreover, his leadership was just as evident emotionally, especially in how he supported rookie Carter Bryant<\/a> and made the latter aware that his presence helped the Spurs eliminate the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m proud of you,\u201d the 7\u20194\u201d center told Bryant while sitting on the bench in Game 7.<\/p>\n

Carter Bryant gave his all vs. OKC<\/p>\n

From a statistical standpoint, Bryant\u2019s contribution might appear modest, averaging 2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds, 0.3 steals and 0.3 blocks over the seven games.<\/p>\n

However, in the 8.1 minutes he played per game, he consistently brought energy, toughness and relentless effort on both ends of the floor. If the Thunder relied on hard-playing defenders like Jaylin Williams<\/a> and Lu Dort, Carter matched that intensity whenever he stepped foot on the floor.<\/p>\n

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Sure, there were moments of adversity for Bryant. For instance, in Game 4, he received a stern coaching lesson from coach Mitch Johnson after forcefully bumping into Jaylin Williams, leading to a charge call following a turnover.<\/p>\n

Even though the Spurs led 72-47 at that moment, the score didn\u2019t matter to Mitch, who seemed very animated in passing his message to young Carter on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

The exchange visibly affected the 20-year-old power forward. During a timeout later in the contest, Bryant had teary eyes and tried hiding them from the camera. That was when Wemby stepped in, embracing the role of a leader regardless of being two years older than Bryant, comforting him.<\/p>\n

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The impact of that consoling became evident in the last two games of the series. With San Antonio<\/a> being down 3-2, Bryant responded with renewed energy and finished both Games 6 and 7 with a plus\/minus rating of +2.<\/p>\n

\"DecDec 2, 2025; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) along with forward Carter Bryant (11) react from the bench during the second half against the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn ImagesWembanyama inspired his teammates<\/p>\n

Interestingly, what makes Wembanyama\u2019s leadership so special is that it goes beyond motivating a single rookie. After the Spurs beat the Thunder 111-103 in Oklahoma<\/a> in a nail-biting Game 7, the French phenom openly celebrated with his teammates, embracing them and showing genuine emotion.<\/p>\n

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In many ways, it was a reminder of how invested he is in the success of the entire group. His passion, competitiveness, and refusal to be complacent have become contagious throughout the roster.<\/p>\n

It can be seen in the fact that so many players on the Spurs team, such as Stephon Castle<\/a>, Devin Vassell<\/a>, and Dylan Harper<\/a>, among others, were making their first playoff appearances, yet the patience and composure they are showing are otherworldly.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest reason is that Wembanyama is the team\u2019s emotional leader on the court and in the locker room.<\/p>\n

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So, if the young Spurs team continues to feed off each other\u2019s energy, it would be incredibly challenging even for the New York Knicks<\/a>, who are on an 11-game winning streak, to beat them in the championship round.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 31, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As much as fans will look at the box score and see that Victor Wembanyama led the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[40549,99528,49952,56216,7741,132928,355,5489,361,9600,6402,6999,2116,99,40552,32090,69310],"class_list":["post-676864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-carter-bryant","tag-devin-vassell","tag-dylan-harper","tag-jaylin-williams","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-mitch-johnson","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-oklahoma","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-stephon-castle","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-western-conference-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}