ATLANTA (AP) — Victor Wembanyama scored 26 points, Devin Vassell added 18, and the San Antonio Spurs spoiled the first of a five-game home stretch for Atlanta with a 126-98 win over the Hawks.
The win was the Spurs' 20th of the season — a feat the team did not reach until Jan. 23 last season.
In his fourth game since returning from a calf injury that kept him sidelined for 12 games, Wembanyama added 12 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal. It was the center's first double-double since San Antonio's Nov. 14 loss to Golden State.
Vassell was 4 of 9 beyond the three-point arc.
The Spurs led for 47:27 of 48 minutes and were up 68-44 by halftime. San Antonio extended its lead to 102-72 by the end of the third quarter, and all of the starters were done for the night midway through the fourth.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the Hawks with 23 points in his return to the starting lineup. He was 7 of 9 from the foul line and 7 of 18 from the field.
Jalen Johnson, coming off a career-high 43-point performance against Charlotte, scored 17 points and added 11 rebounds. He led the Hawks with 13 points in the first quarter and solidified his 18th double-double of the season in the third quarter.
The Hawks rested Trae Young as they ease the All-Star guard back into game action after he missed 22 games with a sprained MCL. Young was held to eight points and contributed 10 assists in his first game since late October, a 133-126 loss to Charlotte on Thursday night.
Atlanta was also without Kristaps Porzingis, who will be sidelined for at least another week with an illness requiring further evaluation.
Hawks: Host the Bulls on Sunday night.
Spurs: At Washington on Sunday night.
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Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder watches as Atlanta plays against the Charlotte Hornets during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (AP) — She had worked 22 days straight in her job as a technician at an engine plant to save up, and now Daijah Bryant could finally do what she was putting off: Christmas shopping.
Bryant pushed her cart out of a Walmart in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and loaded her sedan's backseat with bags of gifts. While they would soon bring joy to her friends and family, it was difficult for the 26-year-old to feel good about the purchases.
“Having to pay bills, if you happen to pay rent and try to do Christmas all at the same time, it is very, very hard,” she said with exasperation.
Ahead of President Donald Trump's Friday evening visit to Rocky Mount, some residents said they were feeling an economic squeeze that seems hard to escape. The uneasy feeling spans political affiliation in the town, which is split between two largely rural and somewhat impoverished counties, although some were more hopeful than others that there are signs of reprieve on the horizon.
It was Trump's second event this month aimed at championing his economic policies ahead of a consequential midterm election next year, both held in presidential battleground states. Similar to Trump's earlier stop in Pennsylvania, Rocky Mount sits in a U.S. House district that has been historically competitive. But earlier this year, the Republican-controlled legislature redrew the boundaries for the eastern North Carolina district to favor their party as part of Trump's push to have GOP-led states gerrymander their congressional districts to help his party retain its House majority for the last half of his term.
Rocky Mount may be in a politically advantageous location, but the hardships its residents report mirror the tightening financial strains many Americans say they are feeling, with high prices for groceries, housing and utilities among their top concerns. Polls show persistently high prices have put Americans in a grumpy mood about the state of the economy, which a large majority say is performing poorly.
Trump has insisted the economy is trending upward and the country will see some relief in the new year and beyond. In some cases, he has dismissed affordability concerns and encouraged Americans to decrease their consumption.
In his Friday night speech, he leaned into a persistent refrain: Democratic President Joe Biden alone was to blame for any economic distress Americans may be feeling, but things are getting better under his watch.
He boasted that steps he's taken—including generating billions of dollars of revenue through tariffs, pressing pharmaceutical giants to slash the prices of some medicines, and a so-called $1776 “warrior dividend” for U.S. troops that is being paid through a provision in a tax cut extensions and expansions bill he signed into law in July—will have real impact on American's pocketbooks.
“I inherited the mess. I got the prices down and they are going down still further,” Trump said. He added, “Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in the history of our country.”
Crimson smokestacks tower over parts of downtown Rocky Mount, reminding the town's roughly 54,000 residents of its roots as a once-booming tobacco market. Through the heart of downtown, graffiti-covered trains still lug along on the railroad tracks that made Rocky Mount a bustling locomotive hotspot in the last century.
Those days seem long gone for some residents who have watched the town change over the decades. Rocky Mount has adapted by tapping into other industries such as manufacturing and biopharmaceuticals, but it's also had to endure its fair share of challenges. Most recently, financial troubles in the city's government have meant higher utility prices for residents.
The city has been investing to try to revitalize its downtown, but progress has been slow. Long stretches of empty storefronts that once contained restaurants, furniture shops and drug stores line the streets. Most stores were closed Thursday morning, and not much foot traffic roamed the area.
That's left Lucy Slep, who co-owns The Miner's Emporium jewelry store with her husband, waiting for Trump's promised “Golden Age of America.”
The jewelry store has been in downtown Rocky Mount for nearly four decades, just about as long as the 64-year-old said she has lived in the area. But the deterioration of downtown Rocky Mount has spanned at least a decade, and Slep said she's still hoping it will come back to life.
“Every downtown in every little town is beautiful,” she said. “But without the businesses, it's dead.”
Slep's store hasn't escaped the challenges other Rocky Mount small businesses have endured. Instead of buying, more people have recently been selling their jewelry to the shop, Slep said.
Customers have been scarce. About a week out from Christmas, the store — with handmade molded walls and ceilings resembling cave walls — sat empty aside from the rows of glass cases containing jewelry. It's been hard, Slep said, but she and her husband are trying to make it through.
“This year is just not a jewelry Christmas, for whatever reason,” she said.
Slep is already looking ahead to next year for better times. She is confident that Trump's economic policies — including upcoming tax cuts — will make a marked difference in people's cost of living. In her eyes, the financial strains people are feeling are residual effects from the Biden administration that eventually will fade.
Optimism about what's to come under Trump's economy might also depend on whether residents feel their economic conditions have changed drastically in the past year. Shiva Mrain, an engineer in Rocky Mount, said his family's situation has not “become worse nor better.” He's been encouraged by seeing lower gas prices.
Bryant, the engine technician, feels a bit more disillusioned.
She didn't vote in the last election because she didn't think either party could enact changes that would improve her life. Nearly a year into the Trump administration, Bryant is still waiting to see whether the president will deliver.
“I can't really say ... that change is coming,” she said. “I don't think anything is going to change.”
President Donald Trump speaks during an address to the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
One of many empty storefronts is boarded up along a street in downtown Rocky Mount, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
Railroad tracks cut through downtown Rocky Mount, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, with a boarded up building in the background. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
