Victor Wembanyama Was Plus-32 in 29 Minutes and the Spurs Lost the Other 19 by 16

Photo: ESPN. Victor Wembanyama headshot.

San Antonio won 122-106 in Dallas on Saturday night for its first win of the season, and the swing came in the third quarter. Victor Wembanyama caught a De'Aaron Fox lob for a dunk at 8:17 that made it 77-63, sat at 6:39, and by the time he checked back in at 2:37 the 14-point lead was down to 84-83.

Wembanyama finished plus-32 in 29 minutes, per the ESPN box score, so the Spurs lost the 19 minutes he sat by 16. Across three games, The Dyme's count from ESPN's box scores has San Antonio at plus-33 in 95 minutes with him and minus-33 in the 49 minutes without him, and that gap is where the 1-2 start lives.

The four minutes that nearly gave it back

The lead was built fast. Stephon Castle hit a three at 10:15 of the third, Dylan Harper tipped one in, Castle ran in for a dunk off a Devin Vassell feed, and Wembanyama finished the lob at 8:17, per ESPN play-by-play. Dallas was down 14 and had no Cooper Flagg (left shoulder sprain) and no Kyrie Irving (rest on a back-to-back), per AP and the Mavericks.

Johnson took Wembanyama out at 6:39 with the Spurs up 77-68 and sent Luke Kornet in. From there to 2:37, Dallas outscored San Antonio 15-7. The Mavericks did it with guards pulling up. Zaccharie Risacher got to the rim, Sergio de Larrea hit a 24-foot pull-up at 4:37, and Marcus Sasser made two 25-footers, the second a three at 2:59 that cut it to one. De Larrea's floater at 2:01 put Dallas ahead 85-84, Dallas's first lead since 54-52 late in the second quarter, per the play-by-play.

Wembanyama answered with an alley-oop layup at 1:44 and a 24-foot three at 35.7 seconds, and San Antonio went to the fourth up 92-89.

The fourth quarter looked different

The Spurs opened the fourth on a 17-5 run in the first six minutes, per AP, going from 92-89 to 109-94 by 5:53. Wembanyama sat the first 3:38 of the quarter, and this time the bench held. Tarris Reed Jr. played that stretch at center, finished a Vassell lob at 10:40, and San Antonio went 11-5 before Wembanyama checked back in at 8:22, by The Dyme's count from the play-by-play.

The difference was shooting. Vassell hit a three at 11:15, then assisted the Reed lob and threes by Julian Champagnie at 9:52 and Harper at 9:05, per the play-by-play. Once Wembanyama returned, the Spurs went 16-2 to 119-96 at 3:13, a run that included his own alley-oop and-one at 5:06 and his assist on a Harper dunk at 3:13.

That is the case for what works when he sits. San Antonio got stops in the fourth, and Reed's stint was plus-6. In the third the offense stalled for four minutes.

Three games of the same split

Saturday was not a one-night quirk. The Spurs lost 116-104 to Oklahoma City on Tuesday. Wembanyama was minus-2 in 34 minutes, so San Antonio lost his 14 minutes on the bench by 10, per the ESPN box score. They lost 114-110 to Houston in Austin on Friday with Wembanyama at plus-3 in 32 minutes, which puts the 16 minutes without him at minus-7.

Add Saturday, and the numbers from those three box scores, totaled by The Dyme, are plus-33 with Wembanyama on the floor and minus-33 with him off. San Antonio has played 49 minutes without him and lost all three of those stretches.

The backup center line is where it shows. Kornet was minus-10 in 13 minutes against the Thunder, minus-7 in 16 against the Rockets and minus-18 in 14 against Dallas, per ESPN. That is minus-35 in 43 minutes by The Dyme's addition. On Saturday he went 0-for-2 with four rebounds and two turnovers. Reed has played eight total minutes in the three games.

The starters are not the problem

Johnson has started the same five in all three games: Wembanyama, Fox, Vassell, Castle and Harper, per the ESPN box scores. On Saturday, all five were plus-12 or better. Fox had 19 points and nine assists in 28 minutes. Harper scored 22 on 9-of-18 with three threes. Castle had 19 and eight assists. AP noted the win kept San Antonio from its first 0-3 start since 2008-09.

The Spurs also owned the glass with their bigs. San Antonio grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to Dallas's 8, outscored the Mavericks 25-10 in second-chance points, per AP, and scored 64 points in the paint, per ESPN's team stats. Dallas still had 46 points in the paint in the first half alone, a franchise high in the play-by-play era according to the Elias Sports Bureau via AP.

Wembanyama's own line was quiet by his standard. He had one point until midway through the second quarter, per AP, then two alley-oop dunks in two minutes and 12 by halftime. He ended with 23 points on 9-of-18, seven rebounds, four blocks and zero fouls.

Two levers for Johnson

There are two levers, and both show up in the box scores.

The first is Reed. His only meaningful stint on Saturday was plus-6, San Antonio's best stretch of the night without Wembanyama.

The second is the third-quarter stretch. The collapse came with Kornet on the floor and the Spurs going 3-of-6 from the field over four minutes, with Fox missing three straight in the lane, by The Dyme's count from the play-by-play.

Johnson called the Thunder and Rockets "two of the best teams in this league," in comments quoted in the Mavericks' preview. Sacramento comes to San Antonio on Tuesday, per the Spurs schedule on ESPN.

Sources

• ESPN box score and play-by-play, Spurs 122, Mavericks 106 (Oct. 24, 2026)
• ESPN box score, Thunder 116, Spurs 104 (Oct. 20, 2026)
• ESPN box score, Rockets 114, Spurs 110 (Oct. 23, 2026)
• AP game story, Spurs beat Mavericks 122-106 for their first win
• AP report on Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving missing the Spurs game
• ESPN Spurs schedule
• Dallas Mavericks on NBA.com, home opener preview against San Antonio

The Dyme calculated the on and off splits, the stint scores and the totals across all three games from ESPN box scores and play-by-play.