Bulls' Splitter Talks Challenges of Facing Victor Wembanyama, Spurs

The Bulls have started the 2026-27 season with games against some of the top contenders in the NBA. Eleven of their first 13 games are against teams that made the playoffs a year ago, and so far, Chicago is just 1-8.

Tiago Splitter's team just concluded a two-week period in which it played each of the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers twice, and the schedule doesn't lighten up. The Bulls will host last season's Western Conference champions, the San Antonio Spurs, on Wednesday night.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has his team at 9-2, with nine consecutive victories after an 0-2 start. San Antonio is tied with Boston for the league's best net rating, thanks to the NBA's No. 4 ranked offense and No. 5 ranked defense.

All of that runs through the 7-foot-4 22-year-old, who finished third in the 2025-26 MVP race. Wembanyama has leveled up this season, averaging an absurd 30.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 4.5 blocks and 1.1 steals per game.

The Frenchman is a nightmare to gameplan for, and Splitter is doing his best to set his team up for success against the league's biggest mismatch. More than anything, it'll come down to whether or not the Bulls can knock down their shots.

"To beat the Spurs, you've got to shoot the ball well from three," Splitter said following practice on Tuesday. "You've got to force him to get out of the paint and that's going to create easier shots at the rim. But if you just try to get at him the whole game, that's their favorite. You've got to be able to spread the court, take him out of the paint and go from there."

Splitter has emphasized touching the paint on every possession, but that will need to change against a player like Wembanyama. Opponents are making just 46.8% of their two-pointers against the Spurs, the lowest in the league.

Unfortunately for Splitter, the Bulls are not a great three-point shooting team. Chicago is making a league-worst 27.2% of its triples this season despite taking the fifth-most attempts from beyond the arc.

"A shot at him at the rim is not a good shot," Splitter said. "We've got to be mindful of that. We've got to maybe wrap around a pass, find a corner three, try to play fast, try to get there before he gets to the paint. I think that's our formula to try to win, but again, it's an extremely talented team, a team that is built to win the championship. A tough matchup for everybody, not just for us."

Splitter won the 2014 NBA Finals as a player with the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he spent most of his seven-year career. As the interim head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers last season, Splitter faced off against his former team in the first round of the playoffs and saw what Wembanyama could do firsthand. Wembanyama scored 35 points in his first postseason game, and after leaving the series with a concussion, the Defensive Player of the Year returned with 13 combined blocks over the final two games. The Spurs won the series in five games.

Wembanyama has stuffed the stat sheet in his first 11 games this season. Against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 4, he posted 52 points, 24 rebounds and eight blocks. Most recently on Monday, in a win over the Phoenix Suns, Wembanyama totaled 40 points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks.

The Bulls and Spurs will tip off at the United Center at 7 p.m. CT on Wednesday night.