Manu Ginobili had a fitting message after the San Antonio Spurs returned to the NBA Finals.
The Spurs legend celebrated San Antonio’s Western Conference championship on X, writing, “The Spurs are the Western Conference Champions!” He added one more line that stood out for longtime Spurs fans: “My first one as a fan!”
That is what makes Ginobili’s reaction different from a standard congratulatory post. He won four championships with the Spurs as a player, helping define the franchise’s dynasty alongside Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Now he is watching a new San Antonio team chase a title from the outside.
The timing is obvious. The Spurs are back in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks, with NBA.com listing Game 1 for June 3 in San Antonio and Game 2 for June 5 before the series shifts to New York.
For Ginobili, the run is another reminder of how much San Antonio’s basketball identity still runs through the players who built the franchise’s championship standard. Duncan was the foundation, Parker drove the offense, and Ginobili became one of the most creative and beloved players in Spurs history.
Now, Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs are trying to write their own version. Ginobili’s message gave fans a bridge between the old era and the new one.
Manu Ginobili Celebrates Spurs’ NBA Finals Return
Ginobili’s “first one as a fan” line works because it captures where the Spurs are as a franchise.
This is not the same San Antonio team that ran through the league in the Duncan-Parker-Ginobili era. It is a new group, led by Wembanyama, trying to turn potential into a championship much faster than most teams are able to do.
Ginobili knows what that stage feels like. He played in five NBA Finals with the Spurs and won four of them. His teams were known for ball movement, depth, decision-making and the kind of trust that made San Antonio one of the league’s most stable organizations.
That is part of what makes his reaction meaningful. It is not just an old player congratulating his former team. It is one of the franchise’s defining figures watching San Antonio return to the same standard he helped set.
Ginobili’s post also landed at a moment when the Spurs’ past is impossible to ignore. San Antonio’s Finals return has brought Duncan, Parker, David Robinson and Ginobili back into the conversation, not because the franchise is stuck in nostalgia, but because this new team is being measured against the best era in team history.
For fans, Ginobili’s message was simple. The Spurs are Western Conference champions again. And for the first time, he gets to experience that as one of them.
Manu Ginobili Rings/Championships
Manu Ginobili won four NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs.
His titles came in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014.
Ginobili’s first championship came in 2003, during David Robinson’s final season. His last came in 2014, when the Spurs beat the Miami Heat in one of the most complete team performances in modern Finals history.
That 2014 title is especially important to Ginobili’s legacy. By then, he was no longer the young international guard introducing NBA fans to his left-handed drives and chaotic creativity. He was a veteran connector, shot-maker and playmaker on a Spurs team that had turned chemistry into a weapon.
Ginobili was also a major international figure. Before his NBA success, he starred in Europe, and he later helped Argentina win Olympic gold in 2004. His Hall of Fame résumé is not just an NBA résumé. It is one of the most complete global basketball careers of his era.
The Spurs retired Ginobili’s No. 20 jersey, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022.
GettySAN ANTONIO – NOVEMBER 11: Manu Ginobili #20 of the San Antonio Spurs celebreates after shooting a three-pointer in the closing minutes of the second quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at AT&T Center on November 11, 2009 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Manu Ginobili Stats
Ginobili’s NBA numbers do not fully capture his impact, but they still show how steady he was across 16 seasons.
NBA.com lists Ginobili’s career averages at 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists. NBA.com also lists him at 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, with a birthdate of July 28, 1977, and Argentina as his country.
Ginobili is now 48 years old. He was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, and was selected by the Spurs in the second round of the 1999 NBA draft with the No. 57 pick.
Those details remain part of what made his Spurs career so unusual. Ginobili was not a lottery pick. He did not arrive in the NBA as a guaranteed star. He came from Argentina and Italy, joined a championship-level team, accepted a role that often had him coming off the bench and still became a Hall of Famer.
He was a two-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection and the 2008 NBA Sixth Man of the Year. But the cleanest way to understand Ginobili’s value is that San Antonio trusted him in the biggest moments.
He could close games. He could run offense. He could make the pass before the pass. He could also throw a game into beautiful disorder, which is part of why Spurs fans loved him.
Now Ginobili is watching the next Spurs Finals run from the fan side. His message made that clear, and it gave San Antonio fans another reason to connect the franchise’s championship past with its present.
Manu Ginobili Sends San Antonio Spurs Message for NBA Finals