Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will treat fans in Austin with a pair of NBA games this week.
SAN ANTONIO – The South by Southwest (SXSW) festival started flooding the streets of Austin last week with tourists and celebrities.
But the influx of star power continues Friday when Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs host the Denver Nuggets on Friday (8:30 ET, NBA League Pass) for the first of two games in the club’s famed I-35 Series at the Moody Center. The series will close out Sunday vs. the Brooklyn Nets (7 ET, NBA TV).
Seventy-seven miles separate San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center from the Moody Center. In between, the population up and down the I-35 corridor is exploding.
“This is the fastest growing region in North America,” Spurs CEO R.C. Buford told NBA.com. “Between Austin, San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico — which is our region — we’re excited to be a part of such a dynamic environment to be able to meet our fans where they are, to be able to share our impact work in this space.”
This season marks the second straight year that San Antonio leaves its home digs to host games in Austin, a city that houses the club’s NBA G League affiliate and already teems with Spurs season ticket holders. The two games San Antonio played in Austin last season shattered Moody Center attendance records.
That was before the Spurs’ drafted one of the future faces of the NBA in Wembanyama.
“We want to bring belonging to the people across this region,” Buford said. “Now, we didn’t wait on Vic to do this. We were here last year. Had the pandemic not happened, my belief as a leader in my role, would’ve had us in Austin sooner. The Moody Center is an amazing facility that just makes this even more of a priority.”
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Located on the campus of the University of Texas-Austin, the 15,000-seat Moody Center opened in the spring of 2022 as a multi-purpose venue and was named Billboard Magazine’s highest-grossing venue of its size in ticket sales and ranked No. 10 in top worldwide arenas by Pollstar.
“I think it’s gonna feel like home,” Wembanyama said. “I think the energy is gonna be very high. I feel like everyone is excited. We’re excited to be here. But I feel like people are excited to see a game here as well. I think it’s gonna be very intense.”
It’s expected that NBA commissioner Adam Silver will be in attendance for Friday’s matchup with Denver, as well as Nuggets governor Josh Kroenke. San Antonio then hosts Brooklyn on Sunday, and Nets governor Joe Tsai will be on hand, as well as all the Spurs’ investors.
San Antonio also extended invitations to all the players for MLS club Austin FC.
But the I-35 Series represents more than just a couple of games for the Spurs.
Leading into the matchups, the organization also hosts Spurs Week, which consists of a laundry list of community events, such as the Play ATX court unveil that took place Sunday to tip off the week. In conjunction with the Austin Parks Foundation, the Spurs renovated a court at Walnut Creek Park.
After the unveiling ceremony, the club hosted a day of music, dancing, and games as well as a free basketball clinic.
“Austin has always been an important part of our program,” Buford said. “For anybody who’s been Spurs fans these last 17 years, they’ve seen the importance we’ve put on our Austin Spurs program with Corey Joseph, Danny Green, Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, all the young guys we’ve put in our program here.”
Just think if the I-35 Series took place during the club’s annual Rodeo Road Trip, which hits every February as the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo takes over Frost Bank Center, leaving the region missing its local team for nearly a month.
“We believe this is all one market,” Buford said, “and the I-35 Series helps to bring these markets together.”
Wembanyama is eager to help San Antonio do just that. The first-year superstar, who has embraced Spurs fans as readily as they welcomed him, is eager to cement his connection with the team and its connection with the surrounding communities.
“This is how I’m trying to live through all of my experiences in my life,” Wembanyama said. “I’m part of the Spurs and part of this journey. Making them grow and become something more than it’s been in the past is one of my convictions in what I want to be. So, yeah, of course, to me it’s very important.”
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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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