Haunted by NBA Finals defeat, Wembanyama, Spurs driven to complete mission of being league's best

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama spent many uneasy nights this offseason revisiting the Spurs' loss to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.

For an athlete fully committed to a regimented schedule of diet, exercise and a preferred bedtime of 9 p.m., the restless evenings were telling.

Wembanyama was hurting. So, Victor did what Victor does.

The 7-foot-4 center worked feverishly in the offseason, including another unorthodox training excursion to improve his body, mind and spirit.

Did it help him recover from the heartbreaking defeat?

“I can’t answer that question because it’s not over," Wembanyama said Monday during San Antonio's media day. "It evolves with time. I’ve had a few sleepless nights, maybe not sleepless nights, but hard to find sleep sometimes or hard emotions, hunting sometimes. But the reason is just a point where you accept that you have to go through it and you have to feel all of it. And we don’t want to hide from anything. So, we’re going to face these emotions, face the reality that we have a hundred games to play, 100 plus (including the postseason), and this is the reality of it. We’re in a great spot. We’re very hopeful, very ambitious, and we’re ready.”

The recovery process included spending time with friends, but in Wembanyama's own disciplined way. He invited teammates to Paris in August for a series of workouts.

“Obviously we have to go through some emotions and you do some of that alone, but it’s great to do as a team,” Wembanyama said. “I think a lot of positive things of everything we did this summer, just being together, honestly, it was amazing. Especially Paris for me, that was really touching, pretty emotional for me. So, yeah, this is a great positive.”

Wembanyama put his hand over his heart when speaking of the Spurs time in Paris, emphasizing it's importance. It moved his teammates, too.

“Obviously, it’s good to take a break, but just having all the guys in one room again and just breaking bread with each other was probably the best thing about being in Paris," Spurs point guard Dylan Harper said. "I feel, like, for on the court, I mean, you hang out off the court, you get comfortable around your teammates, it allows you to be vulnerable. It allows you to say what’s on your mind and no one else is taking it the wrong way. I think for us the biggest thing is accountability and I feel like every day, no matter what setting we’re in, we’re always going to hold each other to the same standard.”

Shortly after those workouts, Wembanyama trained with French rugby club Provence Rugby in Aix-en-Provence to improve his footing, lower-body strength and ability to absorb physical contact. The rugby workouts are not unusual given Wembanyama's curious nature, which led him to spend two weeks training at the Shaolin Temple in China last offseason.

“The training itself was really hard,” Wembanyama said of working with Provence. “I think it was really good for the vestibular system and new movement patterns and new ways to develop strength as well.”

Since Wembanyama was drafted No. 1 in 2023, he has made it clear that his and San Antonio's benchmark is to be the best. Still, few expected a youthful roster led by the 22-year-old Wembanyama to reach the NBA Finals last season, but that didn't make the loss less painful for the Spurs.

Wembanyama averaged 26 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.6 blocks against New York, but San Antonio lost in five games.

San Antonio blew double-digit leads in every loss, including Game 4 when New York overcame a 29-point deficit and staged the largest comeback in NBA Finals history in a 107-106 victory.

For the Spurs and their fans, it was a painful reminder of the 2013 NBA Finals when San Antonio lost a five-point lead in the final 28 seconds of Game 6 to lose to Miami. The Heat won Game 7 to rally from a 3-2 series deficit and beat the Spurs.

Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich famously used the heartbreak of 2013 to fuel the Spurs' relentless drive to win the 2014 championship.

Only time will tell if history will repeat, but San Antonio is again using a Finals loss as motivation.

"We made it to the place we wanted to get to, but obviously we need to win," Spurs forward Julian Champagnie said. "However anybody looks at it, I feel like we've got an opportunity to do the same thing over again and go back and control the controllables. I feel like that’s kind of where we are. So, I think that we’ll definitely use this past year in helping us push past a lot of stuff this year and get to where we want to get to.”

The loss is heartbreaking, but defeat could spur Wembanyama to win it all.

“I couldn’t imagine better motivation,” he said.

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper participates in a media interview during the team's NBA basketball media day event, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs players Dylan Harper (2), De'Aaron Fox, and Stephon Castle (5) pose for photos during the team's NBA basketball media day event, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama poses for photos during the team's NBA basketball media day event, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama poses for photos during the team's NBA basketball media day event, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama poses for photos during the team's NBA basketball media day event, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)

A leader of a secretive North Carolina religious group was sentenced Monday to two years of probation in a plea deal that dropped a felony kidnapping charge, more than nine years after her trial ended without a verdict.

Prosecutors said Word of Faith Fellowship leader Brooke Covington led a group of church members in 2013 who choked and beat a young man for two hours while they prayed to expel “homosexual demons.”

Covington, 68, pleaded to two misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and simple assault Monday by entering an Alford plea, according to court records. It's technically a guilty plea in which defendants maintain they are innocent while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them at trial.

The judge sentenced Covington to 45 days in jail on the false imprisonment charge and 30 days for simple assault, but suspended them so she won't have to serve the time if she completes her probation. Covington also was ordered to complete 30 hours of community service benefiting children or young adults.

Covington's original case ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman brought his own research into deliberations.

Since then, the COVID-19 outbreak, a move to remove the original prosecutor that ended with the suspension of the law license of the attorney making the request, deaths or retirements of lawyers on both sides and handing the case to a new prosecutor in a new jurisdiction all delayed a new trial.

Both the new prosecutor and Covington's lawyer didn't respond to messages seeking details about Monday's hearing.

Matthew Fenner joined Word of Faith as a teenager in 2010 with his mother. He was at a service on the church’s compound in Spindale, North Carolina, when members including Covington started what the church called a “blasting” session on him, according to Fenner.

Covington said the session was no different than others, and she had witnesses prepared to testify they didn't see an assault against Fenner.

Word of Faith is a nondenominational Protestant church that was founded in 1979 by Sam and Jane Whaley in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlotte and Asheville. Members consider Jane Whaley a prophet.

In 2017, The Associated Press published a series of stories about Word of Faith that detailed former church members’ allegations of abuse. The AP spoke to dozens of former congregants around the world, listened to hours of secretly recorded conversations with church leaders, and reviewed hundreds of pages of law enforcement, court and child welfare documents.

Whaley has denied that she or other church leaders ever abused Word of Faith members, and said that any discipline would be protected by the Constitution’s freedom of religion tenet.

The church said the allegations made to the AP were false and made by “certain former members” out to target the church and that it does not condone abuse.

The case was turned over to a special prosecutor after Fenner’s lawyer accused District Attorney Ted Bell of siding with Word of Faith in his handling of the case.

Attorney Andrew LaBreche said Bell didn’t investigate new evidence or witnesses and made a deal to drop the felony kidnapping charge against Covington.

Bell provided text messages and other evidence he refused to talk to Word of Faith members when they tried to steer conversations toward the assault cases.

Superior Court Judge William Stetzer not only denied LaBreche’s request to remove the prosecutor, but in his order said LaBreche’s “repeated acts of dishonesty and the significant harm to the legal profession” led the judge to suspend his law license for three years. He also awarded Bell legal fees.

LaBreche is appealing the ruling, and his suspension has been delayed until his case can be heard.

Word of Faith had about 700 members in North Carolina a decade ago, but a sworn statement from a former church leader said membership had now dwindled to about 300 to 400 people.

The AP reported that the church controlled almost every aspect of their members’ lives, including who they married, what subjects they studied in school and whether they could go to college. Members were regularly slapped, choked and thrown to the floor during high-decibel group prayer.

The AP investigation also found that the church and its hundreds of followers controlled local law enforcement and social services, preventing fair investigations.

FILE - This image from video shows the entrance to the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindale, N.C., in 2016. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz, File)

FILE - Brooke Covington, a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindle, N.C., leaves a hearing at Rutherford County Courthouse in Rutherfordton, N.C., May 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek, File)