After the San Antonio Spurs' Game 7 win in Oklahoma City over the defending-champion Thunder on Saturday, in which 7-4 Frenchman Victor Wembanyama asserted himself as the next face of the NBA, the Thunder denied the question of whether they will need to "solve the problem" of guarding Wemby in the future.

"There’s nothing that needs to be solved. We could’ve won the game tonight. You would’ve been asking them the same thing," said Alex Caruso. "I don’t think there’s this narrative that this is a bugaboo. We should’ve played better and won the game and been in the NBA Finals. They’re a good team, they’re young. [We’ll] both probably be around for a while. But we’ve gotta get better and try and win next time."

The battle between San Antonio and OKC was certainly the most entertaining of the playoffs, as were their meetings during the regular season. The Spurs, however, got the better of the Thunder more often than not before the playoffs, but fell just short of the West's No. 1 seed.

While Oklahoma City might not find (or at least admit) Wembanyama to be a dilemma to the degree the media is cracking him up to be, the same can't be said for other teams across the NBA, such as the Spurs' division rival, the Dallas Mavericks.

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The Mavs are in rebuild mode with star rookie Cooper Flagg emerging as a potential rival of Wembanyama's in the West. With a pivotal NBA Draft approaching for Dallas, the organization could be thinking that drafting a front-court player would be a smart strategy, knowing that the 22-year-old Wemby would terrorize the team for the next decade otherwise.

Because of this, reporter Jake Fischer believes Michigan's Aday Mara - the 7-3 center who is regarded as the best defensive big man in this summer's draft - is seeing his stock rise.

"Wembanyama's ascension has numerous front offices thinking about how to add more size to combat the Frenchman," Fischer says. "We've been writing about the league-wide renaissance for big men all season, and it sounds as though Michigan's 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara is bound for the green room on the first night of the draft as an increasingly certain lottery pick."

The Mavs own the No. 9 and 30 picks in the June 23 first round. While most projections believe Dallas to be targeting a guard, this positioning was initially in range for Mara to be drafted. That could be changing soon.

Looking back on the first game of the 2025-26 season, Wembanyama torched the Mavs with 40 points and 15 rebounds. In "The Alien's" second meeting with Dallas, he recorded 29 points and 11 boards.

Dereck Lively II, the big man who mostly guarded Wembanyama in that first game, only played in six games for the rest of the season. Dallas' other pure center, Daniel Gafford, was hobbled with a lower-leg injury for most of the year, as well.

In the past, Lively has matched up well with Wemby, though his injury history is rightfully a cause for concern, especially as the Spurs star continues to develop into a more physical presence inside.

At his best, Lively has the tools necessary to be the Wemby Stopper a team would crave - with long arms, a springy second jump and enough athleticism to stretch out to the perimeter - but the Mavs might need more.

Mavericks general manager and former draft scout Mike Schmitz said the following recently about his vision for the team's lottery selection:

"We’re looking for a difference maker … We’re looking for a core piece … We’re looking for the guy that went too low when he should’ve gone higher."

Dallas is smartly being coy about their exact mindset in the few weeks ahead of the draft, and if this quote is any indication, the team could be narrowing down its big board and determining their pick based on the action ahead of them come draft night.

And it appears the Michigan big man Mara could be one of the biggest risers of the night with the big guy in San Antonio letting the rest of the league know he's arrived for good.