FOR A GOOD 90 minutes before the San Antonio Spurs' first playoff game in seven years, the crowd inside Frost Bank Arena seemed fully engaged in one of the most effective forms of peer pressure imaginable. Every one of the seats inside the arena had a pink-, orange- or teal-colored T-shirt on it to celebrate Fiesta Week in San Antonio.
There are no exceptions. No trading colors. If Spurs legends David Robinson and Tim Duncan can wear orange shirts and longtime Spurs president RC Buford can wear hot pink, you can, too.
Those who don't are immediately caught by in-house cameras and shown on the arena scoreboard, then jeered mercilessly by the crowd until they acquiesce, which they always do.
Before the players took the floor, nothing seemed more important to the crowd Sunday than this game of "Put Your Shirt On."
That is, until Victor Wembanyama stepped onto the court in matching bright orange, size-20.5 shoes to warm up before his first playoff game.
Now, the crowd really had no excuse not to participate.
As he gathered himself on the court, the music dimmed. Fans across the arena began recording the moment on their cell phones for posterity.
Everyone knew -- or at least believed -- they were about to witness history.
There aren't many firsts left for Wembanyama, but this first playoff game was as important to him as it was to a city that has waited seven years to return to the postseason. The fans had never waited more than one year in the 53 years since the franchise moved to San Antonio.
"The first time I stepped on the court, even for warmups, I felt the atmosphere was different," Wembanyama said. "Everybody was ready. The fans were ready. It's probably the most excitement I've seen this year in this arena."
Wembanyama more than met the moment. He plowed through it with the kind of force only his lithe 7-foot-4 frame can generate once he hits top speed. His final line -- 35 points on 13-of-21 shooting with five 3-pointers, five rebounds and two blocks -- tells only part of the story of the Spurs' Game 1 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Yes, he broke Tim Duncan's franchise record for points in a playoff debut. Yes, the Trail Blazers were 0-for-11 on shots where he was the primary defender.
But it's how easily he accomplished those feats that resonates and makes the rest of the league shudder about what he could do over the next few decades -- and how little the other teams can do to stop him.
DUNCAN AND ROBINSON sat 10 rows up Sunday night to witness Wembanyama's playoff debut. Both have welcomed and mentored him since he came to San Antonio three years ago.
But neither Hall of Famer made a play similar to the one Wembanyama completed 6½ minutes into the game.
Wembanyama grabbed a rebound off a Deni Avdija miss, looked up the court and saw daylight. Centers are supposed to pass the ball to a guard in these situations. But no such rules apply to Wembanyama. If he sees space, the Spurs trust him, 22 years old and 7-foot-4, to initiate the offense.
It's really something to see a man that tall dribbling coast-to-coast that fast and that well. It's even more surreal to see a man that tall dribble behind his back, spin away from defensive pressure into the lane, take two steps toward the rim and throw down a thunderous dunk as Wembanyama did a few seconds later.
Duncan and Robinson were as astonished as the crowd by the play. NBC's cameras caught the Hall of Famers clapping and smiling in amusement.
"It's something you know he's capable of," Spurs center Luke Kornet said afterward. "But it's also something we've never seen before."
Wembanyama practices this kind of drive during his warmups before every game. He'll throw the ball off one basket, grab the rebound, survey the floor and pick up speed as he dribbles.
Player development coaches Jon Harris and Curtis Lewis wait for him as he crosses half court. Harris, a burly forward who played in the G League and professionally in Germany, Canada and Argentina, defends him first, bumping him hard enough to shift him off course. Lewis, a smaller guard who played collegiately at Rockhurst University and Flagler College, doubles him near the 3-point line.
Wembanyama never picks up his dribble. He either splits the double-team, spins around it or Eurosteps through the key.
He saves the thunderous dunks for the game. And it brings down the house every time.
"Did I dunk it?" Wembanyama asked after the game. He didn't seem to remember the play that will surely go down as the signature one of his first playoff game. "I'll have to look again."
AS THE LATEST in the line of Spurs big men selected with the No. 1 pick, Wembanyama will always be linked to Robinson and Duncan, both of whom shined in their playoff debuts as well. But it's another generational superstar to whom Wemby was drawing comparisons Sunday.
Twenty years ago, LeBron James played in his first playoff game for the Cleveland Cavaliers, finishing with 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a win over the Washington Wizards. At the time, James was just the third player in NBA history to record a triple-double in his playoff debut.
Wembanyama couldn't quite match that feat, but he was the 13th player to score at least 35 points in his first taste of playoff action. Similar to James, the Spurs' big man played his first playoff game in his third season. Wembanyama is the same age James was when -- a year after his playoff debut -- he took the Cavs to the NBA Finals, coincidentally against Duncan and the Spurs.
After that Finals, which ended in a four-game sweep to give San Antonio its fourth title, Duncan famously pulled James aside and told him it would be his league soon enough.
Nearly two decades later, at age 41, James is still rewriting history, but Wembanyama's show Sunday proves that it won't be long before it's his league, rather than LeBron's.
Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday tried to delay that takeover Sunday night. On the first play of the game, the veteran guard sent Wembanyama flying to the ground as he cut through the lane. As the only Trail Blazers player with championship experience, it fell to Holiday to welcome the young Frenchman to the physicality of the playoff stage.
Wembanyama popped back up, caught the ball on the wing, drove to the lane and missed a floater.
"I think he was a little more excited than usual," Spurs teammate De'Aaron Fox said. "Everybody has jitters, but I don't think those jitters showed for more than like 30 seconds."
Indeed. After that first possession, Wembanyama settled himself by locking in defensively.
"Our defense into our offense is our best offense," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. "The more we commit to that end, then you get to see the talent and the athleticism and the waves of our offense."
That has become Johnson's shorthand to describe what's so indescribable about Wembanyama. Johnson said "the talent" instead of "his talent" because he knows Wembanyama doesn't want to be set apart in any way. Nights such as Monday, when Wembanyama earned what will surely be the first of many Defensive Player of the Year awards, are important but not cause to make a special individual celebration.
In Spursian fashion, Wembanyama chose not to do a separate news conference Monday night, and instead will speak before Tuesday's Game 2 against the Trail Blazers.
THE VAUNTED CULTURE that Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, who retired last year, created in San Antonio was everywhere Sunday night. The collective joy and participation in the stands. The multigenerational support from the old guard. It was inescapable and unbreakable, as it has been for nearly 40 years.
Duncan, Robinson, Manu Ginobili and Sean Elliott were among the Popovich-era players in attendance for Wembanyama's playoff debut.
Popovich watched from a suite alongside his longtime assistant coach and friend, Brett Brown. On Monday, Popovich attended Spurs practice and held court with individual players for over an hour.
"The main thing I take from Pop is just being selfless," Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. "I feel like he embodies that and the culture that he built for this organization."
Castle played only a few weeks of his rookie campaign last season under Popovich, before the Hall of Fame head coach suffered a mild stroke before a game in November 2024. But Castle still sees Popovich just about every day at the team's facility, as well as Duncan and Ginobili.
"They move like normal people," Castle said. "It's kind of weird. They're legends, just walking around like they're just normal, day-to-day people."
That's how it always was in San Antonio. The team took its personality from the famously lowkey Duncan.
This group of Spurs is made in Wembanyama's image, and similar to their leader, they're more festive, open and charismatic.
"Tim, Manu, Tony [Parker], those guys were like, 'Don't ask about myself,'" said Portland coach Tiago Splitter, who played alongside Duncan, Ginobili and Parker from 2010 to 2015. "[Wembanyama] is very open about who he is."
After games, Wembanyama huddles the team near midcourt and helps choose which player should get the honor of banging the drum with the Jackals, a Spurs fan club that Wembanyama has embraced.
On Sunday night, sixth-year forward Devin Vassell, whose 15 points and two blocks helped propel the Spurs' third-quarter surge, was chosen for the honor.
"It wasn't my choice, but it was my suggestion," Wembanyama said. "We always try to put the spotlight on the person who deserves it."
Wembanyama created this tradition after a win over the Phoenix Suns before Christmas. It reminded him of something his favorite soccer club, Paris Saint-Germain, does to honor the hero of the match and celebrate with its fans.
Wembanyama would have been well within his rights to bang the drum to celebrate the win in Game 1. He was far and away the best player on the floor, as he is most nights. But in true Spurs fashion, similar to his superstar predecessors, he deferred the spotlight.
Duncan and Robinson stayed until Vassell finished leading the postgame cheer, then quietly left the arena.
Wembanyama said he noticed them when they were shown on the big screen during the second half.
"It was the loudest the fans got all game," he said with a smile. "Just seeing those two and the recognition they got from the fans was amazing."
He knows their history and what they accomplished together. The foundation they built and passed on. From the moment he set foot in San Antonio and was anointed as the torchbearer of the Spurs' dynasty, Wembanyama has leaned into their embrace without being smothered by it.
"I wouldn't say weight," Wembanyama mused after the game. "I would say it feels safe. It feels like if you trip, there's a lot of hands that are ready to catch you. From Day 1, it's felt that way."