The San Antonio Spurs didn’t just beat the Oklahoma City Thunder again, they made the victory feel like an event, the kind of home-night atmosphere that belongs more to European football than an NBA arena.
After San Antonio’s 130–110 win over OKC at Frost Bank Center on Tuesday, Victor Wembanyama stayed on the floor and grabbed a large drum, leading the crowd into a synchronized, thunderous clap-and-chant sequence that instantly read like a supporters’ section tradition. The scene was loud, coordinated, and unmistakably “ultras” in tone. Exactly the kind of fan culture Wembanyama has been trying to import since arriving in the league.
There have legends in Spurs history but few have ever done what Victor Wembanyama did postgame in San Antonio leading a victory drum cheer with the fans #nba #porvida #sanantonio #gospursgo pic.twitter.com/ez4ii702jJ
— JeffGSpursKENS5 (@JeffGSpursZone) December 24, 2025
The game itself gave San Antonio the perfect stage for a new ritual. The Spurs blew the contest open late, outscoring the Thunder 43–28 in the fourth quarter to turn a competitive night into Oklahoma City’s most lopsided loss of the season. Wembanyama, still coming off the bench after returning from a calf injury, finished with 12 points and five rebounds, while the Spurs’ depth did the heavy lifting.
Then came the postgame moment. According to accounts of the celebration, Wembanyama addressed the crowd and introduced a new tradition built with a newly organized fan group he referred to as “the Jackals,” before leading the drum-and-clap sequence that had the entire building moving in rhythm.
This wasn’t a random spur-of-the-moment idea. Back in September, Wembanyama and the Spurs publicly announced plans for a European-style supporters’ section, complete with “nonstop chants, drums, flags, and passion,” and Wembanyama made it clear it was something he wanted to build into a real competitive edge. “It’s been an idea,” he said then. “And now it’s a project.”
He was even more explicit about the goal:
“If this group of ultras reaches its full potential, I have no doubt that it’s going to help us win games in the future for sure,” Wembanyama said, describing it as fourth-quarter energy that can give the team “that extra… second wind.”
The timing also matters because Spurs–Thunder is starting to feel like something real. Wembanyama has been careful about labeling it a rivalry, but after the win he acknowledged the direction it’s heading.
“It feels like saying it is a rivalry would be a weird thing, because it’s something that happens naturally,” he said, before adding, “I didn’t say that it’s impossible that it can be in the future.”
In other words, the Spurs are trying to build two things at once: a team that can stand toe-to-toe with the West’s best, and an atmosphere that makes San Antonio feel like a place opponents hate visiting. The drumline win ritual is more than a quirky clip, it’s Wembanyama planting a flag for what he wants Spurs basketball to become.
