By Megan Armstrong0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.It's common practice for athletes to wear all-black outfits to elimination games.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning back-to-back NBA MVP, were both dressed in head-to-toe black when they arrived at Oklahoma City's Paycom Center for Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday.
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Wembanyama's outfit elicited more online reaction than Gilgeous-Alexander's. Maybe it's because he's 7-foot-4, and everything he does elicits an outsized reaction, but it's more likely that Wemby is known for his method-actor approach to basketball more than anyone in the league.
...On X, people flooded comments with references to Game 7 being the Thunder's funeral. One user wrote that Wemby dressed like a pastor because "he's about to baptize" the Thunder.
Whatever the case, Wemby and the Spurs will need a lot more than an outfit omen to oust the Thunder. Sure, the Spurs are riding the high of beating the Thunder by 27 points in Game 6 to force Game 7. But Oklahoma City has not lost back-to-back playoff games since the Dallas Mavericks eliminated them in the Western Conference semifinals on May 18, 2024.
The key seems to be Wembanyama scoring at least 28 points. When he's done that, the Spurs have won in this series. The question looming over Game 7, from a Spurs' perspective, is how much energy he has left in the tank because he has never played this deep into a season in his three-year NBA career.
The winner of Game 7 will face the New York Knicks in the 2026 NBA Finals, beginning next Wednesday, June 3.
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