Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs lost Game 3, 109-123, at home and are now trailing 2-1 in the Western Conference Finals series against the Thunder. Both teams face injury concerns as key players like De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper are playing through injuries, and Ajay Mitchell’s status remains unknown after he exited Game 3 early.
Amid the rising injury concerns for both teams, Victor Wembanyama is also emerging as an intentional target of the Thunder’s physicality and is becoming increasingly prone to injury.
Therefore, after seeing him fall to the floor on several occasions in Game 3, Dr. Evan Jeffries, the injury expert, revealed his concerns about seeing Wembanyama’s vulnerability in this series and gave him advice on what he needs to do to elongate his career.
“Love watching Wemby play, but he’s going to need to learn how not to fall on the floor all game long. As his career goes on, he has to lessen his injury risks. It reminds me of how Embiid and Anthony Davis would be on the ground all the time,” wrote Dr. Jeffries on X.
Jared McCain is 6’3”.
Goes into Wemby’s body and scores.
Not entirely sure why Wemby threw his head back like that but surely all the talking heads will dedicate full segments to it. pic.twitter.com/xRyszBy1r1
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) May 23, 2026
Wembanyama was already recovering from a deep-vein thrombosis on his shoulder in the 2024-25 season when he additionally got plagued with a calf strain early in the 2025-26 season.
Dr. Jeffries seems to fear that if Wembanyama doesn’t stop falling to the floor as often as he does, he might be prone to the same risks that come with being a player of that size. Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid are clear examples of how an elite career can be derailed by injuries.
In the 2025-26 season alone, Anthony Davis missed 62 games due to eye and hand surgery, and Joel Embiid missed 44 games due to a combination of knee and back injuries. Hence, Dr. Jeffries has issued a word of caution to Wembanyama and suggested that he needs to increase his ability to sustain contact without falling to the ground.
Victor Wembanyama Addresses De’Aaron Fox And Dylan Harper’s Injury
Victor Wembanyama tried everything he could in Game 3. He finished with 26 points, four rebounds, and three assists while shooting 8-15 from the field (53.3 FG%) and 2-5 from beyond the arc (40.0 3P%). But that was not enough as the Spurs’ backcourt struggled to contribute while recovering from injuries.
Following Game 3, the media asked Victor Wembanyama about his reaction to the injuries to De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper that have suddenly weakened the Spurs’ backcourt.
“Yeah, it pains me to see them in pain. I trust that they’re going to be healthy soon and come back, but they should take care of their health. It’s, of course, I mean, as always, as we did in game one, we’re going to have them back,” Wembanyama said.
The last thing that the Spurs want at this point is to see their star player get injured. The Thunder are also without Jalen Williams and might be without Ajay Mitchell for the rest of the series. At the end of the day, it will become a question of which team manages to sustain through the physicality of the series that proceeds to the NBA Finals.
For now, the Spurs will hope to tie the series in Game 4 tomorrow (Sunday, May 24) so that they don’t head to Oklahoma for Game 5 (Tuesday, May 26) staring down the barrel of the shotgun that is elimination.
