Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has been diagnosed with a left calf strain after undergoing an MRI, the team announced in a press release. The French center suffered the injury in Friday’s loss to Golden State.
While the Spurs didn’t give a return timeline for the former No. 1 overall pick, ESPN’s Shams Charania hears Wembanyama will miss a few weeks (Twitter link).
Through 12 appearances this season, Wembanyama has averaged 26.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.1 steals and a league-high 3.6 blocks in 34.7 minutes per game. He’s second in the league in rebounds per contest (Nikola Jokic is at 13.0) and holds a shooting slash line of .500/.345/.857.
The 21-year-old big man missed his first game of the season on Sunday due to the injury — head coach Mitch Johnson indicated Wembanyama experienced soreness in his calf on Friday and would undergo testing.
According to Michael C. Wright of ESPN (Twitter link), Wembanyama was wearing a “small sleeve” on his calf in the locker room following Sunday’s win, but was otherwise in good spirits and didn’t seem to be in any pain. Still, San Antonio is known for being cautious with injuries, and calf strains are notoriously tricky to manage — plus they can lead to more severe injuries.
Both Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press and Wright (Twitter links) hear Wembanyama will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks, confirming Charania’s reporting.
Backup center Luke Kornet and veteran big man Kelly Olynyk are among the Spurs who could receive more playing time with Wembanyama out.
Second-year guard Stephon Castle was also injured recently, suffering a hip injury on Sunday which prevented him from returning from the victory over Sacramento (Twitter link via Matthew Tynan). It’s unclear if the reigning Rookie of the Year will miss additional time as a result of the injury.
Several noteworthy players — including Anthony Davis, Ja Morant, Wembanyama and Spurs rookie Dylan Harper — have been diagnosed with calf strains in recent weeks.
Calf strains are all the rage these days.
Safe to say this is quite a strain. It’s the longest calf in the NBA.
And the parade of injuries to top players continues.
Get well soon, Victor!
What other top player is hurt?
Tatum, Young, Garland, Davis, Irving, Haliburton, Kawhi, LeBron, Morant, Jalen Williams, Jalen Green, off the top of my head.
Tatum ok
Young, Garland, Jalen Green are not top players
Kawhi and LeBron are past their peak, I dont think they are top 10
Ja Morant also not sure if I would call him a top player, specially with how he has been playing lately.
Jalen Williams is great but TOP player?
Jokic, Shai, Giannis, Luka are all healthy and those are the TOP players right now
Internal injuries takes a lot of time to make sure you are a 100% especially with conditioning. It is best that you work on his free throws while rehabbing so that he still will have his shot when the injury is over.
Jesus Christ, who isn’t injured in the NBA these days?
The Golden State Warriors (except Melton, who is always injured and he was signed knowing he was rehabbing after major surgery).
Training camp is suppose to be the place where you get into game shape. You are suppose to come into training camp already in shape. Something is OFF here. Just too many nagging injuries. Wemby was out all last year. ……. Get well Wemby.
It’s the same answer to all the injuries since the Warriors upped the pace of play around 2014. The game is so fast now, its played at double speed to the 80s/90s/00s ISO-heavy ball. The Movement Warriors started this, and its due to the human body not being able to play this fast a game without breaking down. All the guys who don’t get injured know to not play at 100% or to save the afterburners for when it’s safe.