Spurs’ Mitch Johnson gets real on Victor Wembanyama’s late shot selection in loss to Hornets

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Spurs’ Mitch Johnson gets real on Victor Wembanyama’s late shot selection in loss to Hornets

Hector Ledesma, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Sun, Feb 1, 2026 ·

3 min read

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Spurs' Mitch Johnson gets real on Victor Wembanyama's late shot selection in loss to Hornets appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

There's no question the San Antonio Spurs want the ball in Victor Wembanyama 's hands at the end of games. The question then lies in what the third-year center does with it. Following a 111-106 loss against the Charlotte Hornets in which Wemby took and missed a 3-pointer early in the shot clock with :27 left in the game, Mitch Johnson answered whether that was the shot he wanted in that situation.

"I didn't get a good enough look at it to probably give an advanced or a super deep explanation or thought on that," Johndson said. "But, that was one of the options on the play; him coming off the screen, whether he wanted to take the three or curl it and try to get something at the rim."

The Spurs didn't get a great performance from their generational star. Wembanyama scored 16 points , didn't record a block, registered an assist and tallied eight boards on an afternoon in which his team was out-rebounded by 15.

"It was disappointing for sure," Johnson said. "I think, Charlotte's playing really well, but we won three out of the four quarters, so that means there were some things that we were doing well as well. We just need to do it for more than 48."

Spurs fall to sub-500 against the Hornets

The win moved the Hornets to 22-28 for the season. They're on the outside looking in of the Eastern play-in picture, sitting 11th in the conference. Asked what went wrong during a second quarter that saw his team outscored 35-17, Johnson didn't hesitate.

"A little bit of everything" Johnson said of Brandon Miller , who put up a game-high 26 points.

"I thought our discipline of how we wanted to guard multiple actions was not up to standard. We fell asleep a couple times in terms of not staying connected to him, got lost in transition."

The Spurs first-year head coach then reiterated a reality that plagued his now 32-16 squad.

"The offense took some tough shots; turnovers," Johnson noted. "You win three quarters out of four and still lose the game, that means you had a quarter that obviously had multiple things not going well."

Mitch Johnson says the Spurs' early start time didn't matter

Though San Antonio hadn't been playing their best ball since a big victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Christmas Day, the loss dropped them below second place in the Western Conference for the first time since December.

This latest loss took a unique turn before it started as both the Spurs and Hornets took the court three hours earlier that originally scheduled. Because of severe weather expected through Charlotte and the region, the game started at noon, or 11 am by San Antonio standards. It's the first game the Spurs have played this season that started before noon Central Standard Time.

"I don't think it had much effect to do with the game," Johnson said afterward.

Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News reports the Spurs, who are scheduled to host the Orlando Magic the next day, are being forced to spend the night in Charlotte , unable to return to the Alamo City because of snow storms.

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