Days after agreeing to a monster contract extension, Victor Wembanyama reminisced about the last three years of his NBA career. The highlights. The multiple accolades. The latest postseason push that helped make the extension an easy decision.

His basketball profile continues to grow. On and off the court.

On July 10, the San Antonio Spurs announced that Wembanyama agreed to a five-year, $252 million extension to remain with the team. The deal begins with the 2027-28 season and starts at 25 percent of the salary cap — even though Wembanyama was eligible for a supermax deal worth 30 percent of the cap.

In an exclusive with The Athletic, Wembanyama offered his thoughts of how his new contract can help the Spurs maintain its championship contention window for years to come. Saving the Spurs approximately $50 million over the life of his extension was about maximizing the opportunity to remain title contenders, as cap savings could allow the team flexibility in trades or to sign players to add to or maintain its depth.

“We have a good team, we had a very good playoff run, and we had a very good regular season. But what’s even better and greater is our potential,” Wembanyama said during an interview for NBA 2K27, as he was announced as one of the cover athletes for the popular video game series. “The reality of today’s NBA is that often, the potential of teams is not fulfilled because of money. I just want to make sure it’s never our case.”

Wembanyama, a two-time NBA All-Star, was the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year and the first unanimous Defensive Player of the Year winner this past season. The 7-foot-4 do-it-all player averaged career highs of 25 points and 11.5 rebounds and led the league with 3.1 blocks per game in reaching his first NBA Finals. Wembanyama received First-Team All-NBA honors and finished third in NBA MVP voting behind Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokić.

While appreciative of how quickly the various accomplishments come, to Wembanyama, they’re actually expected. The 22-year-old has built a stellar basketball resume playing professionally in France, and his game has matured into a level that puts him among the NBA’s elite. He’s built a reputation where he’s admired by many and even became a bit of a villain during the playoffs due to a number of flagrant fouls and an ejection.

Being on the 2K27 cover is considered a “big milestone” to him, but like the other accolades, it was anticipated.

“Just like every achievement in my career, I wish it happened sooner,” he said. “It’s all happening very quick, but I am not satisfied and I want it to happen quicker. It’s definitely a big milestone, something good. That’s done.”

Wembanyama forgoing a supermax extension can equate to roughly $10 million from the Spurs’ cap each season if Wembanyama were to be named to an All-NBA team or repeat as Defensive Player of the Year in 2026-27. As the team looks to upgrade players like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper from their rookie deals in the next couple of years, the cap number will be important. Per The Athletic’s John Hollinger, keeping Wembanyama at 25 percent of the max “would also allow the Spurs to use their nontaxpayer midlevel exception in the 2027 offseason and still remain below the first apron, something that otherwise would have been impossible without trading a rotation piece.”

At 7-foot-4 with an 8-foot wingspan, Wembanyama is seen — on the court and in gaming — as something of a cheat code. He has the shooting and ballhandling abilities of a guard. He’s blocked 3-point attempts. And with every game, his confidence grows.

And the more he does, the more people talk.

“I see it, and I feel it with people around me,” he said. “Whether it’s fans or interactions, even haters, you know it’s everywhere. But mentally, it’s not taking a toll on me, I’m just living my career.

“I hear it the most with journalists and media. But, yeah, it comes with it. I guess it’s only a good thing.”

Being on the cover of a premier basketball simulation game, one of the best-selling video games on the market, will bring more attention to Wembanyama from basketball fans, as well as gamers who might not watch the sport closely but are fanatical about gameplay. NBA 2K26 — which featured Gilgeous-Alexander as a cover athlete — was the No. 1 selling sports game last year and No. 2 overall video game, so he is aware of the potential ascension as the worlds of basketball and popular culture fuse.

Wembanyama joined a list of 2K cover athletes that also includes Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Dončić. He played the game growing up with his brother and uncle in France. He fondly recalls when EuroLeague teams were added to the game for 2K14.

“I know it means a lot culturally, too,” Wembanyama said. “It’s hard to realize for me that I’m taking more and more space, more real estate in the world of basketball, in what basketball means, in professional basketball.”

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Los Angeles Chargers veterans will report to training camp at The Bolt in El Segundo, Calif., on Tuesday. The opening practice will be held the following day on Wednesday, July 29.

The 2026 season is upon us.

This is a fascinating and pivotal year for coach Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz. The two franchise leaders are entering their third season together. The Chargers have made the playoffs in each of the first two seasons under Harbaugh and Hortiz, but they have not yet won a postseason game under this regime.

The Chargers have retooled in an effort to get over the playoff hump. Most notably, they have a new offensive coordinator in Mike McDaniel. The hope is McDaniel will build a more reliable offense than the one that scored just three points in a playoff loss to the New England Patriots last season. The Chargers also added to the roster in the draft and free agency. The new players will accompany a promising nucleus that has been cultivated over the past two years.

It is a make-or-break season for the Chargers, and there will be so much to assess and discuss during training camp.

Here are the key storylines I will be monitoring over the next month.

Chargers edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu is coming off a career season in 2025. He finished with 13 sacks, sixth most in the league. He ranked sixth in pressure rate among all players with at least 300 pass rush snaps, according to TruMedia. Tuipulotu was also an impact player as a run defender, making 10 tackles against the run that ended in either no gain or a loss, according to TruMedia. It is the right time for the 23-year-old to cash in.

Tuipulotu has been eligible for an extension since the end of the 2025 season, which was the third year of his rookie deal. Tuipulotu’s camp and the Chargers have been engaged in contract negotiations for much of this offseason. A firm deadline is now approaching with the 2026 season in sight. The Chargers tend to finalize deals around this time on the calendar. Last year, it was Rashawn Slater. Derwin James Jr. and Justin Herbert also signed their first extensions in training camp.

My big question: Will Tuipulotu practice? Players can be fined if they do not report to training camp. As a workaround, players will report to camp but then sit out practices while they remain in negotiations. This is commonly referred to as a “hold-in.” Slater went this route last year. James did the same in 2022. Holding in is one of the only ways a player can exercise leverage during a negotiation. It is an option for Tuipulotu.

The battle at left guard

Hortiz has built a deep roster, and that means there will be battles at several positions. There will be competition for starting and rotational spots. There will be competition for spots on the final 53-man roster. The most interesting is the battle for the starting left guard position.

There are three primary contenders: rookie Jake Slaughter and veterans Kayode Awosika and Trevor Penning. The Chargers selected Slaughter in the second round in April. Awosika was a free agency addition. The Chargers traded for Penning at the deadline last season and then re-signed him this offseason. Awosika was getting the initial left guard reps with the starting offensive line in the spring. Slaughter was then rotating in for Awosika with the starting group. Penning was working through an injury during the offseason program, so his reps were limited.

I think Slaughter wins this job. But he is going to have to earn it once the pads come on. The Chargers’ first padded practice is scheduled for Aug. 4, when the team will practice in San Diego for two days.

Who emerges as the third safety?

The second-most interesting position battle in camp will be in the safeties room. New defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary is taking over for Jesse Minter, who left to take the Baltimore Ravens head coaching job. O’Leary will be running a version of Minter’s scheme. That means James will continue playing often in positions closer to the line of scrimmage, including at nickel. When James moves into these positions, the Chargers need to replace him at safety on the back end.

Elijah Molden will be one of the safeties in these packages. I see three primary contenders for the other safety: veteran Tony Jefferson, 2025 sixth-round pick RJ Mickens and 2026 fourth-round pick Genesis Smith. I expect all three of these players to get reps with the starters when James is closer to the line of scrimmage. Whoever makes the most plays is going to win the job. Keep an eye on Smith. He was very impressive during spring practices. He had an interception during minicamp. Smith has the range and ball skills that fit very well into this role.

The Chargers have several options for who will join the defensive backfield when Derwin James Jr. moves from safety to nickel. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)

Will the Chargers settle on starting cornerbacks? Or will they rotate?

Last year under Minter, the Chargers rotated their cornerbacks regularly within games. Donte Jackson, Tarheeb Still, Cam Hart and Benjamin St-Juste all played at least 350 defensive snaps. Four cornerbacks had the trust of the coaching staff, and so four cornerbacks played. It was a strategy largely driven by Minter.

O’Leary was asked about rotations at cornerback multiple times during the offseason and was noncommittal. O’Leary said he has done it both ways and sees benefits to both approaches. So we will have to wait for training camp to figure out which way O’Leary is actually leaning.

Jackson, Still and Hart are all back. The Chargers are excited about two second-year cornerbacks in Nikko Reed and Eric Rogers. There should be some quality competition at this position. A lot will likely depend on training camp performance. If two cornerbacks clearly distance themselves from the pack, then it will be an easier decision for O’Leary as far as who plays on the outside when James is at nickel. When James is at safety in nickel packages, the Chargers can get Jackson, Hart and Still all on the field together, with Still playing on the inside.

The Mike McDaniel offense

We got a good sense of some broad philosophical pillars from McDaniel during the offseason program. The Chargers are going to shift to more outside zone blocking in the run game. They are going to ask Herbert to get the ball out more quickly in the passing game to take advantage of yards-after-the-catch opportunities. Herbert has already undergone some footwork changes to make the transition into McDaniel’s passing offense.

But the reps in the spring were quite limited. For instance, the Chargers only held seven-on-seven drills during their minicamp in June. Training camp is when we will see McDaniel’s Chargers system truly come to life. That is specifically true of the running game. Pads will come on, and we will see how the offensive line performs on some of the stretch and horizontal runs that are commonplace within the scheme.

The Chargers are banking on McDaniel lifting this group to an elite level. We will start to see some real tangible returns on this investment during training camp.