April 7: Wembanyama is listed doubtful to play in Wednesday’s game against Portland but there’s confidence he will play at least one of the team’s final three regular season games, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets. The big man’s MRI came back clean, Chris Haynes of NBA on Prime tweets.
April 6: Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has been ruled out of the second half of Monday’s matchup vs. Philadelphia due to a left rib contusion, the team announced (Twitter link via Jared Weiss of The Athletic).
According to Weiss, the injury occurred in the first half when the French big man fell to the ground. Luke Kornet started the third quarter with Wembanyama sidelined.
The silver lining for Wembanyama is he was able to play 16 minutes in the first half, so the appearance will still count toward the 65-game minimum. The 22-year-old had one previous outing where he played 17 minutes and that will also count toward the games-played requirement.
Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s final three games to be eligible for major postseason awards. In that scenario, he would be at 64 regular season games but would still meet the 65-game threshold because he played in the NBA Cup final, which counts toward the minimum requirement even though the statistics from that game aren’t officially recorded.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, Wembanyama had 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks in his 16 minutes Monday. The team was plus-seven when he was on the court.
Assuming he qualifies, Wembanyama is viewed as a lock to win Defensive Player of the Year and appears likely to be a finalist for MVP. He’s a strong candidate for first-team All-NBA as well.
In the latest straw poll from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, which was released Thursday morning, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the overwhelming favorite to win his second consecutive MVP award. The Canadian superstar received 88 of the 100 potential first-place votes for a total of 958 points.
Wembanyama, who has touted his own MVP credentials a couple times in recent weeks, was in second place with eight first-place votes and 644 total points. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who has either won or finished second in MVP voting in each of the past five seasons, was in third with 500 points.
The only other player to receive a first-place vote was Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, who received one and was in fifth place with 123 points. Lakers guard Luka Doncic was fourth with 347 points.
Of course, the bigger concern for the Spurs is the health of their best player as they look to make a deep playoff run. Wembanyama has also been battling right ankle pain the past few weeks, though that injury evidently doesn’t bother him all the time.
If he misses the last three games and therefore all of the awards because one of the games doesn’t count… egads.
Sucks right…. maaaan
Obviously you care … lmao
The NBA gives out awards every year. I would always want my team to have a chance at one.
Who cares about awards? Good god.
Egads… nicely done sir lol
Just hope he’s good. Need you for Playoffs player.
“se rétablir”
I didn’t see the game… Was he knocked or pulled to the ground by that clown Embiid?
Paul George hit him with his shoulder. He left the game but cameback in first half. He didn’t comeback out for second half.
Neither
No disrespect Spurs fans or to Wemby —-
Our big in NY got a message for all the deniers on here. The KAT can play when he wants. So it is possible lols ——. Knicks come back and win in Atlanta. Thursday night Celtics at MSG.
Towns — 32 mins, 21 pts, 9/12 FG, 12 reb, 6 ast, 2stl, 1 blk ……. “I thought I saw a putty cat” …. not tonight.
It was the Siberian Tiger lols.
Mitchell Robinson is hilarious link to tiktok.com
He’s a FA. Don’t think Knicks keep him. Unless they trade Towns.
Regular season noise…
Call me when he becomes a reliable post season player…
Who KAT? I don’t really want to call you or see the point of doing so but the guy averages 20/10 in the playoffs and has been to two consecutive conference finals.
He’s a complainer lol. Sees negative everywhere.
You missed a letter there
20/10 with his D ain’t enough
You gotta get there first. NBA is 82 gms long. I enjoy the season as much as playoffs. The season is what makes the playoffs.
They were probably just being safe but either way in the playoffs he will be getting a lot more physical play his way.
Yeah I agree. But he’s bigger than most of them.
No more excuses.
Nothing like the world of the NBA hey. Stuff the individual accolades, it’s about winning the whole thing. I’m sure Wemby would agree.
Somehow I’m betting he plays enough to qualify
Nuggets becoming a favorite
Just saying, imagine if a hockey player tried using an injury like this as an excuse not to play
yeah but hockey players use paddings you clown.
You think padding matters when a 6’4 250 guy checks you into the boards? You don’t get 2 weeks off in the NHL for stubbing your toe
You can’t run with a stub toe lol. But you can skate. haha
You can run, dribble, shoot, pass, etc with a bruise. As Herb Brooks would say, Wemby has a “bad bruise”.
He’s thin man . That bone is delicate on ribs. Look what happened to Cade. They don’t have rib pads in basketball lol.
Look what happened to Cade? Man please! Patrice Bergeron once played in the Stanley cup final WITH a punctured lung that later collapsed, torn rib cartilage, broken ribs, and a separated shoulder. These injuries occurred in consecutive games, and he started and finished all of them while being admitted to the hospital after game 6.
Let’s not compare hockey and hoops. It’s unfair to both games but especially if you’re trying to downplay hockey players toughness because of padding. It’s not the same and it’s not even close.
Not comparing just stating facts. NBA is finesse. They don’t wear pads. Ewing played with a broken leg keg to beat Pacers in playoffs. Reed played on one leg to hold Wilt. And beat Lakers. Toughness and heart are not just in NHL. Reed once took on whole Cavs bench to shut them up.
The modern NBA lacks the toughness of old. It left with Kobe in my opinion.
Don’t get me wrong I love this game and agree there’s tons of heart in it, but things have definitely changed.
I agree with you there. I hate they taking away post offense man.
Yeah, living and dying by the three drives me mental.
When the celtics go cold from 3 they will just keep firing. In my opinion, they should attack the rack with their athleticism and draw fouls. Get to the line. You know the rest.
Shooting ice cold brick after brick makes me want to shoot my TV! Lol
Getting to the line is becoming a lost art man. We got the fakers drawing fouls today like Luka. I don’t get why inside outside offense isn’t used more. With better shooting today. That would always get a good look lol. Jokic is only who consistently does it man.
Yep. The Celtics with JT AND JB and all those snipers should be doing the same thing.
Tatum is a guy can post. Cause most times they put a small guy on him. He can do what Jokic does.
Sometimes depending on the matchup for sure. But they should both be using their athleticism more and attacking down hill. White Prichard and Hauser are snipers so the outlet passes would be there!
I enjoy the game and enjoy this team. I even love the coach. But sometimes their style gets irritating. Can’t complain too much though, because they win enough.
Good game tonight. I’m a Josh Hart fan even though he’s a pain in my teams ass! Lol same with Brunson.
Thankfully he had a good game. Towns and Bridges still hiding man. Imo Tatum played too many mins. No Jalen, but you gotta watch that. Can’t lose with no Jalen man. We’ll see ya in playoffs lol.
Might end up being the best series in all the playoffs.
Jaylen Brown should be the MVP and it’s not even close. Lakers, Nuggets, Spurs, Pistons and Thunder would all be mid if their superstar missed 75% of the season. Brown as the leader has kept Boston elite all year w/o Tatum.
You’re not wrong man!
I think the 65 game min is going to go down to 50-55 bc this is kinda ridiculous. If it doesn’t count why count the wins at that point? I think at a certain point now you’re removing incentives for players to finish out the regular season. If I’m on pace for 64 games no matter what at a certain point, why not just load manage for the playoffs earlier?
They need to remove the game counter entirely and just base contracts off games played not a full guaranteed deal. If it’s pay per game, we’ll see a lot more guys playing through these girly little bruises and sore knees.