Victor Wembanyama suffered a hyperextended left knee in the Spurs‘ win over the Knicks on Wednesday night, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (via Twitter). However, according to Charania, initial tests suggested that no major injury had been sustained.
“I’m feeling good, just sore. I’m confident,” Wembanyama said, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). “I was close to coming back into the game. They had to hold me back…It was just a hyperextension. It should be a minimal.”
The Spurs’ star bumped knees with Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns in the fourth quarter while fighting for a rebound and landed awkwardly, staying on the ground for several moments before the Spurs committed an intentional foul to stop play. Wembanyama immediately exited the game and headed to the locker room.
Wembanyama reportedly told fans “I’ll be back” when he left the court (Twitter link via Stefan Bondy of the New York Post), but when he returned, he was wearing slippers, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Spurs were able to come back and register a 134-132 victory despite not having their superstar center — they’ll now await a more specific diagnosis.
This was just the third start for the Frenchman since mid-November. He missed 12 games due to a calf strain, then came off the bench for the next seven games, including against the Knicks in the NBA Cup championship, in order to work his way back into competitive shape.
This is why Wemby will never be an MVP type guy. It’s too bad but that body ain’t built for the nba.
Wrong – the opposite is true actually – his body type – especially as it continues to mature is ideal for the NBA. Plus he’s already an “MVP type guy” despite being a very long way from his ceiling. Just curious have you ever seen one of his games?
He’s never had a fully healthy year even overseas and I sadly doubt he ever will.
He’s 21 years old. Some of his past injuries were things like a fractured finger.
Obviously too soon to pass judgment
People thought Embiid’s health would get better as his body matures. People thought the same with Beal. Wemby is going to have injury issues throughout his career.
You don’t know that. It’s bizarre that you think you do.
Word
You said this about Steph Curry in 2010, right? YKDB.
I’m not hating on the guy, he’s amazing and I love his game. He will need to really bulk and I hope I’m wrong. He’s definitely an MVP caliber player but it’s impossible to get the trophy on the bench.
I’ve been watching hoops for the longest time – these too tall, beanpole types are just prone to certain injuries ex. feet, ankles
Yao Ming, Z Ilgauskas, Smits, Sampson etc.
Let’s hope that a certified face of the league like Wemby, defies the odds and have a long fruitful career – his modern, alternative approach to conditioning alone should give fans some hope.
What do all those guys have in common with each other? They weighed considerably more than Wemby does. Can’t compare them to Wemby, got to look at someone like KD instead. Yes, KD has had his fair share of injuries, but compared to the group you mentioned, he has had a longer, healthier career than Yao, Sampson and other 7’ ers.
Ralph Sampson did not weigh “considerably more” than Wemby. In fact he weighed less. He’s usually listed at 225-228. Wemby is around 230 or more.
You forgot to mention their backs. However, I believe that may have been done purposely to avoid confusion with a well known Lil Kim song :P
Actually, in terms of weight, Ralph Sampson is an almost perfect comparison to Wendy. But I agree, the rest of the guys he listed were much heavier, and Big Z and Smits did not really have injury-impacted careers.
This season all the top players are getting injured so much… it might very well be an award season with a *, as all the top players might not qualify, Jokic, Luka, Giannis, Wemby…
They better hope to win before he gets a foot injury. That usually the beginning of the end for the extremely talls.
Wemby is more athletic than all those bigs. Wilt is probably the most athletic big ever. He had a knee issue late in career. The real athletic bigs can avoid bad injuries. Wemby needs more strength. All long bigs really need to protect their legs. Getting stronger helps. Thats what everyone hits all the time. Used to be teams had big 4s just to protect their centers.
Good to see he wasn’t hurt. Get well Wemby …