The mood has been somber in San Antonio this week, following Victor Wembanyama’s dramatic exit against the 76ers.
With the NBA playoffs nearly beginning, the timing couldn’t be worse for the Spurs, and pessimists spent all night debating what it means for their fragile title hopes. The good news is that while Wembanyama could still miss time, the results of his latest X-ray imaging have confirmed the injury as a minor setback.
“I’m told the Spurs are not anticipating this to be a major injury,” said ESPN’s Shams Charania on NBA Today. “He underwent X-Rays last night, on that rib, and X-Rays for Victor Wembanyama that returned negative, I am told. He will undergo more testing later today, but there is hope and optimism that those tests will confirm what they felt last night: that it’s nothing major.”
Victor has been leading the Spurs to a dominant season, supporting a strong MVP case that has had the entire NBA world buzzing. Against the 76ers on Monday, he was in the middle of yet another elite showing as the Spurs ramp up for the playoffs. Sadly, his night was cut short with 17 points, five rebounds, one assist, zero steals, and three blocks on 63.6% shooting and 33.3% shotoing from three in just 15 minutes.
In a season that’s been beset by injuries already, the Spurs can ill afford more as the first round looms. In this case, the trouble began against Philadelphia after he took a fall in the first half and was ruled out for the rest of the game. The official diagnosis is a rib contusion, and doctors feared that Victor would be unable to play again for the rest of the regular season.
Now, it seems much more plausible that Victor could at least return by Friday, April 10th, to finish out the season and complete the final two games necessary for eligibility. Negative X-rays suggest there’s little to no structural damage, meaning that it’s really just a matter of managing the pain and swelling in the area.
Of course, we can expect Victor to miss Wednesday’s game against the Trail Blazers, but the Spurs don’t have much left to play for anyway. At 60-19, with a 9-game lead over the Nuggets, they are already locked into a top two seed in the West. Coming off Monday’s win, they’ve built up momentum and confidence in this final week of play that will set the tone for their fights to come in April, May, and possibly June.
For now, the focus is just on getting Victor right and ensuring that he doesn’t take any unneeded risks. With averages of 24.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 3.1 blocks per game on 51.0% shooting and 35.0% shooting from three this season, the Spurs need Victor at 100% if they want any hope of beating teams like the Thunder and Nuggets in the West. That’s why they must start the process now of preparing his body and developing a comprehensive plan to keep him fresh for as long as they can.
