Wembanyama’s NBA season is over. What’s subsequent for Spurs star?

FILE – San Antonio Spurs heart Victor Wembanyama reacts after a missed a free throw in the course of the second half of an NBA basketball recreation towards the Chicago Bulls in Chicago, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photograph/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Victor Wembanyama is likely one of the faces of the NBA, the star of the San Antonio Spurs and already one of many largest names in basketball.

And his season is over, after the Spurs introduced Thursday that he has been recognized with deep vein thrombosis in his proper shoulder.

Article continues after this commercial

READ: Wembanyama anticipated to overlook remainder of season with blood clot

The 7-foot-3 heart from France was averaging 24.3 factors, 11 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and three.7 assists this season. Since blocked pictures grew to become an official statistic, solely Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — practically a half-century in the past — completed a season with these numbers or higher.

Some questions and solutions about Wembanyama’s state of affairs:

Article continues after this commercial

What’s deep vein thrombosis?

By the Mayo Clinic’s definition, deep vein thrombosis — or DVT — “happens when a blood clot varieties in a number of of the deep veins within the physique, normally within the legs.” The Spurs say Wembanyama was recognized with DVT in his proper shoulder, and medical doctors will now work to find out how and why that occurred earlier than developing with a plan for therapy.

Among the many main dangers of DVT: Clots breaking free, touring by means of the bloodstream and reaching the lungs. That doesn’t seem to have occurred to Wembanyama, at the very least based mostly on the analysis the crew supplied Thursday.

How will Wembanyama be handled?

Medical doctors who spoke Thursday to The Related Press — none of them concerned in Wembanyama’s therapy — mentioned it’s a digital certainty that the French star shall be prescribed blood-thinning remedy to handle the clot.

The longstanding pondering was that athletes who take part in contact sports activities like basketball shouldn’t play whereas on blood thinners, or anticoagulants, due to the chance of bleeding. Nevertheless, an article revealed Thursday by the American Faculty of Cardiology — hours earlier than the information about Wembanyama broke — mentioned taking part in “aggressive sports activities could also be affordable for athletes receiving full anticoagulation or partial anticoagulation.”

What does this imply for the Spurs?

Feb 10, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; San Antonio Spurs heart Victor Wembanyama (1) and guard De’Aaron Fox (4) react in the course of the second quarter towards the Washington Wizards at Capital One Area. Necessary Credit score: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Pictures

In brief, it’s not good. The Spurs usually are not at present within the playoff image and confronted an uphill combat simply to get into the play-in match — and now must end the season with out their finest participant.

San Antonio nonetheless has expertise: Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes and newly acquired De’Aaron Fox are a formidable veteran trio. However every part is constructed round Wembanyama.

And the Spurs shall be with out their largest star whereas additionally lacking the franchise’s chief. Coach Gregg Popovich had a stroke in November and has been away from the crew for practically the complete season.

What does this imply for the NBA?

Workforce Chuck’s Victor Wembanyama dunks towards Workforce Shaq’s Damian Lillard in the course of the championship recreation of the 74th NBA All-Star Sport in San Francisco, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle by way of AP)

The league’s MVP for every of the final six years has been a participant born someplace apart from the U.S. and that streak is prone to lengthen to seven this season — with Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the stellar Oklahoma Metropolis guard, and Serbia’s Nikola Jokic, the three-time MVP from Denver, anticipated to be the favorites.

But it surely robs the league of one in every of its brightest stars for the stretch run.

All the pieces Wembanyama does is big information in France and in San Antonio, and he’s already one of many league’s hottest gamers. If he and the Spurs had made a playoff run, his star would have solely shined brighter.

Why can’t he win an NBA award now?

The league is in its second yr of what’s generally known as the 65-game rule, which mainly means a participant has to look in at the very least 65 video games to be eligible for many end-of-season awards like MVP.

It additionally applies to defensive participant of the yr, which Wembanyama was favored to win. He has performed in solely 46 video games, which means he is not going to be on the NBA’s poll for that trophy when the voting is carried out in April.

Wembanyama gained rookie of the yr final season. If this case occurred then, he nonetheless might have gained the rookie honor — that one doesn’t fall below the 65-game-minimum coverage.