NBA Playoffs 2026: Is postseason experience now a playoff tax? Why Wemby and the Spurs can win it all

For a guy who is the tallest player in the NBA, Victor Wembanyama doesn’t seem to care much about ceilings.

Many doubted Wemby and the San Antonio Spurs’ legitimacy before the season. Vegas projections gave them just the 17th-best odds to win the championship and an over/under win total of 44.5. With Wembanyama leading the way with an impressive MVP case, they smashed that figure with 20 games remaining in the schedule. The team finished 62-20, the second-best record in the NBA.

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They’re way ahead of schedule, and it’s clear they’re setting their sights higher:

They want a championship.

(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

Despite the Spurs outpacing their win projection by more than any other team in the league, the oddsmakers still aren’t totally sold on their title makeup. According to BetMGM, the team is +450 to win the NBA title, giving them implied odds of 18%, which is worlds better than the preseason prognostication, but still not a gushing review. They remain a distant second behind the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who currently show implied odds of 44%, more than double the Spurs’ figure.

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A confidence gap that large, one would assume the Thunder have dominated the Spurs this season, but the complete opposite has happened. The Spurs have soundly overwhelmed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s club, winning four of the five matchups this season, with three of those San Antonio victories coming by double-digits.

So what’s holding the Spurs back from a rosier outlook? Ah, playoff experience.

Speaking to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after a 40-point performance earlier this month, Wembanyama wasn’t on board with the idea that the Spurs’ inexperience will hurt them.

“We don’t have experience, right?” Wembanyama said. “Screw it.”

The 22-year-old is on to something. In an injury-riddled NBA where young teams are flourishing in an increasingly uptempo playoff environment, the Spurs are closer to a championship than it appears. In today’s NBA, the most-experienced playoff teams seem to be the ones getting screwed in the postseason. And the Spurs can use that…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nba-playoffs-2026-is-postseason-experience-now-a-playoff-tax-why-wemby-and-the-spurs-can-win-it-all-191636107.html

Author : Tom Haberstroh

Publish date : 2026-04-15 19:16:00

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