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Victor Wembanyama’s debut was most-watched NBA regular season opening game in 11 years

2.9 million viewers watched San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks game on Wednesday night on ESPN

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama brings the ball up against the Dallas Mavericks during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (Eric Gay, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

SAN ANTONIO – Victor Wembanyama is must-watch TV.

When the French rookie phenom took the floor Wednesday night against the Dallas Mavericks in his first regular season NBA game for the San Antonio Spurs, millions of people were watching.

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The anticipation for the generational talent was evident as the Spurs-Mavs game was the most-watched NBA regular season-opening game in 11 years.

According to the NBA, 2.99 million viewers watched the game on ESPN.

The game was also the most-watched Mavs-Spurs regular season game on ESPN ever, outside of Christmas Day matchups.

Other impressive stats: NBA League Pass viewership in Wembanyama’s native country of France was up +220% over last year’s regular season average.

“Wemby” is also lighting it up on social media, with 214 million video views, the most of any player on NBA social channels since the start of preseason.

Even though Wembanyama and the Spurs fell to the Mavs 126-119, he won the TV ratings game that night.

More Spurs coverage on KSAT.com:


About the Author
David Ibañez headshot

David Ibañez has been managing editor of KSAT.com since the website's launch in October 2000.

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