San Antonio has two major ties to the men's final basketball game between the U.S. and France at the Olympics in Paris on Saturday.
Active and former San Antonio Spurs will be on both sides of the ball.
The emotions of San Antonio's pure basketball fans may be all over the court, rooting back and forth for silver and black and then red, white, and blue — and then both at times.
First, there's Spurs number one draft pick Victor Wembanyama playing for his home country of France. The 7-foot-4 "Wemby" scored eight points in overtime to knock out Japan, 94-90, to advance to the gold round against the U.S.
Coaching Team USA is former San Antonio Spurs player and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr. He coached the team to the gold round with a 110-84 win over Serbia.
Kerr is likely to continue what has worked well so far for the U.S., a rotation of two five-man teams with a few surprise changes to those teams at times to keep the opponent from getting too comfortable.
Wembanyama will likely do what has worked well so far for him and Team France, playing his best basketball when his team needs him the most, such as in that overtime game against Japan. His 11 rebounds in that game show passing around his frame, including his 8.25 feet arm span, is a challenge to any team seeking gold.
Maybe that arm span will be the difference in the gold game. The Guiness World Records state that's the widest arm span of any living human.
Make sure to scan the courtside crowds for other Spurs greats like Tony Parker of France.
Here's how San Antonio can watch the game on Saturday:
- Date: Aug. 10, 2024
- Time: 2:30 p.m., San Antonio time
- Location: Accor Arena, Paris
- TV: NBC
- Streaming: Peacock, nbcolympics.com, fuboTV
