SAN ANTONIO — Downtown San Antonio came alive Thursday night.
In Southtown, cheers filled the air as the San Antonio Spurs announced their number one draft pick: French sensation Victor Wembanyama.
KENS 5 joined hundreds of fans for a watch party at The Friendly Spot on South Alamo Street.
"The city has life again. Everyone is talking about this," said Michael Gutierrez, who celebrated Wemby with a group of fellow Spurs fans at The Friendly Spot.
Although fans could predict what was likely going to happen at the NBA Draft Thursday night, when The Spurs officially announced their number one pick, the crowd went wild.
Joy and relief filled the air.
"We just wanna be part of this environment," said Spurs fan Jason Trujillo, who attended the watch party with his family.
Fans say Wembanyama's move to the Alamo City moves us back to the international forefront.
"I couldn't be more thrilled for the city. The galvanizing force the Spurs bring... It's back! It's back!" said Trujillo with a smile.
"No one's ever seen a guy like this. David Robinson couldn't hit threes. Tim Duncan couldn't either. This guy can hit threes and do stuff Robinson and Duncan couldn't do. That's what I'm excited about," said Spurs fan, Marcus Cruz.
These loyal fans believe the future is bright for the Spurs and San Antonio -- especially inside the arena, with hopefully more sell-out crowds.
"Championships! I think he would do good with our team!" said Elijah, a young Spurs fan.
"Sweep city is back," said Elijah's father, Mark. "Tim Duncan grew our city. Wemby is gonna grow our city way, way, way more."
"Everyone's gonna want to be back in town, gonna want to be back here and support the Spurs," said Gutierrez.
"Y'all better come to the games!" said Cruz.
"Every game!" added Gutierrez.
What hypes these fans the most is that our youth will soon know what it's like to have a winning team with players only seen once every generation -- if we're lucky.
"It's so exciting especially for [my daughter] to get to grow up with the Spurs, hopefully with the basketball greatness as it was when we were younger," said Lea Trujillo.
Fans are also looking forward to seeing how Spurs Head Coach, Gregg Popovich, will mold Wemby into the best player he can be.
Spurs Nation is already setting their sights on the excitement that game one of the upcoming season will bring.
"Next three seasons, we're gonna at least win one [championship]," said Cruz. "That's my prediction, and I've been right about every single one!"