AJ Dibants statement for Spurs will delight Victor Vembanyama

The The San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers played a pair of games in Paris, France this week, allowing Victor Wembanyama to enjoy the limelight in his homeland during what was a dominant second NBA season. But what will likely emerge as the bigger story than the results of either game — the Spurs and Pacers split a pair of wins without exception — will be what happened off the court with arguably the best high school basketball player alive.

AJ Dibanca is considered the top player in the class of 2025 and is expected to go top in the 2026 NBA Draft in 18 months. Now there’s plenty of basketball to be played between now and then, but it would be a shock if he did The 6-foot-9 BIU commit he didn’t finish No. 1 whenever he entered the NBA draft. And it turns out, Dibanca is already watching not just the NBA, but according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, a partnership with Victor Vembanyama.

“I think Victor is just funny; the things he does are just crazy,” Dibanca told Windhorst while attending Saturday’s game between the Spurs and the Pacers. “I think we’d be a crazy duo.” Now the chances of that happening are very slim. But I mean, that was just a thought that crossed my mind when he was drafted. But you never know.”

Dibantsa is right, and not only is Victor Wembanjama ridiculous… the chances of Spurs being in a position to select him with the first pick seem slim. With the way Vembanjama and the rest of the Spurs core are developing, one would think that the Spurs will be in the playoffs next season. However, the Spurs have a potential ace in the hole.

In one of his first moves towards tanking for Victor Vembanyama, The San Antonio Spurs traded Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks for the abundance of draft picks they will continue to enjoy until the 2027 NBA Draft. In 2026, the Spurs have the option to trade picks with the Hawks if Atlanta’s pick is worse. While it doesn’t seem likely that Atlanta will make it to the end of the 2025-26 season, crazier things have happened.

While we shouldn’t be too quick to wish away any year of Victor Wembanyama’s career, the thought of pairing him with physical copy as Dibanca is intriguing enough to start thinking about what it might be 18 months from now. At the very least, the Spurs may have two bites at the apple, and with multiple picks in the 2025 NBA draft, they could parlay those selections into 2026 picks.