Injury Notes: Wembanyama, Cunningham, Curry, Tatum

Victor Wembanyama‘s status for the Spurs‘ penultimate game of the season remains in the air as he works his way back from a rib injury, Tom Orsborn writes for the San Antonio-Express News.

The MVP candidate was ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Blazers, but the team is confident that Wembanyama will play at least 20 minutes in one of their two remaining games so that he will be eligible for end-of-season awards. He is considered the strong favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year.

“He’s improved quite a bit, so I don’t think it’s a long-term concern, but we’ll obviously be very cautious in the situation and circumstances we’re under,” coach Mitch Johnson said.

With the star big man’s health the priority heading into the playoffs, it’s unclear if Johnson will play him the minimum required minutes to hit his eligibility or if he will play a full game.

We have more injury notes from around the league:

• Cade Cunningham returned from the punctured lung that kept him out for 11 games on Wednesday, contributing 13 points and 10 assists in just over 25.5 minutes as the Pistons beat the Bucks. After the game, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that Cunningham’s minutes load for the rest of the season will depend on how he feels, according to The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson (via Twitter). It’s unclear if he will play in their game against the Hornets on Thursday. Cunningham said that this was a new experience for him that he’s still figuring out how to deal with, per Patterson (Twitter video link). “It was different than any injury I’ve ever had as far as how it progressed initially,” Cunningham said. “From whenever I got hit to how I felt immediately to how I started to feel as time went on. Thanks to all the staff and medical that was around and helped.”
• While Stephen Curry was supposed to be on a minutes restriction in his Monday night return from a prolonged absence due to a knee injury, he exceeded the expected playing time, scoring 29 points in 26 minutes. With the Warriors having four games over the last week of play, he’s expected to miss at least one of the team’s games on Friday or Saturday, ESPN’s Anthony Slater reports (Twitter video link). Slater speculates that he will sit out the Friday matchup against the Kings as he looks to get healthy before the Warriors have to win two play-in games to advance to the playoffs.
• Jayson Tatum will return to Madison Square Garden for the first time since rupturing his Achilles there in last year’s playoffs, and once again it will be in a crucial game for the Knicks, Jared Schwartz writes for the New York Post. A Celtics win will seal their hold on the second seed, with the Knicks also fighting off the Cavaliers, who are looking to seize the third seed. Tatum said that the experience will likely bring up some complicated feelings. “I’m not, like, thrilled to go back and play there,” Tatum said. “Last time I played there, obviously, it was a traumatic experience for me. Obviously, I knew at some point I would have to get over that hurdle and play there again. So, it’s going to have to be this Thursday. But it’s not like I’m thrilled about it. But it’s part of it.”