Victor Wembanyama has officially been declared available for the Spurs’ matchup tonight against the OKC Thunder. But as per the usual plan that the French wonderkid has been following for nearly the past month, Wembanyama will be coming off the bench once again.
Before the game tonight, Mitch Johnson, the Spurs’ head coach, spoke to the media about their franchise player and why he was still on the injury report before the game.
“Mitch Johnson says he feels good about Wemby playing tonight, but they want to be mindful of the NBA injury report and be above board there and make sure he’s in a good place before declaring he is playing,” wrote The Athletic’s Jared Weiss on X.
Weiss then revealed Johnson’s explanation for such a concern towards Wembanyama.
“I would say that every day there is a question of preventative because he is not too far removed from an injury, and we have to be so mindful of that kid’s future and the bigger picture,” said Johnson.
“We’ve had a lot of travel. He’s had life going on, and we’re just trying to make sure we have his best interests at heart, regardless of winning steaks and excitement and whatever else is going on at the moment,” he concluded.
In terms of the regular season record, the Spurs are currently on a six-game win streak (excluding the NBA Cup championship game, which they lost to the Knicks, but does not count as a regular season game). They are technically on the longest active winning streak in the NBA as of now.
However, Johnson wants to avoid that becoming a motivation factor to keep Wembanyama available for action even when there is a certain amount of risk associated with keeping him on.
The Spurs phenom came back to action after missing 12 straight games to face the Thunder in their semi-final matchup of the NBA Cup. Since then, he has averaged 19.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists while coming off the bench. He shot 52.2% from the field and 35.3% from the three-point line during this time.
“That’s going to be the plan until it’s not. The season’s long and grueling, so it’s not like Day 5 of this or day whatever of that. It’s a treacherous schedule, and so we have to continue to take it day by day,” said Johnson regarding Wembanyama coming off the bench.
Wembanyama is currently recovering from a left calf strain and is coming off a blood clot that ended last season early for him. Meanwhile, dealing with a personal loss in the family, Johnson does not want to rush Wembanyama back to action. Hence, Wembanyama came off the bench in tonight’s game against the Thunder as well.
