Victor Wembanyama suffered a hyperextended knee in the team’s Dec. 31 game against the Knicks, but avoided major injury.
SAN ANTONIO — He’s back.
When the Spurs battle for a potential third win in the last four games on Tuesday night, they’ll be doing so with the services of All-Star Victor Wembanyama. Head coach Mitch Johnson confirmed before the game in Memphis that Wembanyama would return to the court after missing the last two games.
Wemby, who turned 22 years old Sunday, had missed the team’s last two games against Indiana and Portland after hyperextending his knee late in a New Year’s Eve win over the Knicks. The team avoided a blow when an MRI revealed no major ligament damage as a result of the injury.
“He’s put in a lot of work and we’ve seen – ‘we’ being the medical staff, specifically – and Victor has seen enough and felt enough to give it a go,” Johnson said Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson added Wembanyama would be coming off the bench and is expected to be under a minutes restriction, a similar situation the young star experienced when he worked his way back from a calf strain in December. He averaged 23.4 minutes in 10 December games, having averaged 34.6 minutes a game before the calf injury that sidelined him in mid-November.
“We have to see how he responds and reacts every single day,” Johnson said. “That will be the biggest indicator of what ‘next’ looks like. But I do think he’s gotten back quickly, obviously, and it’s gonna be as much of his fitness level and fatigue level rather than the totality of the minutes.”
The Grizzlies are 15-20. The Spurs, meanwhile, are 25-10 and firmly in second place in the West, leading the Lakers by two games. Oklahoma City is the lone Western Conference squad ahead of the Silver & Black, which beat the Thunder three times in December.
Not counting the NBA Cup Championship against New York, which doesn’t factor into the their regular-season record, the Spurs are 10-4 without Wembanyama this season. They’re 15-6 when he plays.
Wembanyama leads the Spurs with 24.3 points per game, 11.7 rebounds per game this season and 2.9 blocks per game this season. Those numbers are also top-three among all NBA centers.
Devin Vassell, meanwhile, has been ruled out as he continues to deal with a left adductor strain. The starting guard’s 15.0 points per game is good for fourth on the Spurs this year.
San Antonio, which went an NBA-best 11-3 in December, is preparing for a tough stretch of opponents. After Tuesday, the team plays four straight against playoff contenders – the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston, Minnesota and Oklahoma City – with three of those games on the road.