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Michael C. Wright
Multiple Authors
SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs ruled out Victor Wembanyama for the second half of Monday night’s 115-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers because of a left rib contusion.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the game that he had heard “nothing” yet about the severity of Wembanyama’s injury.
Wembanyama suffered the injury in a collision with 76ers forward Paul George near the half-court line with 10:47 left in the second quarter. They collided when Wembanyama was thrown a pass as San Antonio started to advance the ball up the floor in transition.
Wembanyama subbed out after the play and headed to the locker room, before returning to the bench with 6:49 left in the first half. At 44.3 seconds before intermission, Wembanyama asked to be subbed out again and walked back to the locker room.
He didn’t come out of the locker room with the rest of the team after halftime. Minutes later, the Spurs announced the 22-year-old big man would sit out the remainder of the game.
“I know he came back and he just didn’t finish,” Johnson said. “At halftime, I was told he wasn’t coming back. I haven’t heard anything else up to this point. I think it would be a positive that he felt like he could come back, and he played the last four or five minutes of the half. So, that’s a positive from my perspective.”
Wembanyama played 15 minutes, 40 seconds, which will count toward eligibility for postseason awards, as players are granted two exceptions to the requirement of playing 20 minutes in a game as long as they play at least 15 minutes. The third-year veteran finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks.
The favorite to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year and a contender for MVP, Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s remaining three games to maintain eligibility for postseason awards.
The Frenchman was coming off a string of three straight games in which he scored at least 30 points and tallied at least 15 rebounds with three blocks. That tied for the second-longest such streak since blocks were tracked in 1973-74, behind Shaquille O’Neal’s four-game run in 1999, according to ESPN Research.
Wembanyama entered Monday’s game leading the Spurs in scoring at 24.9 points per game, rebounds (11.6) and blocks (3.1).
