Rookie Victor Wembanyama and the young San Antonio Spurs (1-2) learned some harsh lessons after enduring a 40-point shellacking at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. In case the message didn't sink in on the court, however, head coach Gregg Popovich addressed what his team must do to avoid further anguish.

“It's going to be an education,” he said postgame, via Paul Garcia of Project Spurs. “The road is different from playing at home in the NBA. If you start out poorly, you can't get poorer. You can't lose your ability to compete and playing embarrassed so to speak.”

Victor Wembanyama's performance

Wembanyama was fairly underwhelming in his first NBA game away from San Antonio, tallying 11 points, five rebounds, one block and a steal to go with five turnovers. The last part of his statistical breakdown was a huge problem for the Spurs in general. Their 25 team turnovers put them in an even deeper hole against a superior Clippers squad.

Playing sloppy basketball is a surefire path to futility, especially when there is a big disparity in talent and experience. If the Spurs are going to weed their way through this challenging rebuild, Popovich needs his players to embody a high-level of grit and fundamental soundness.

“You've got to fight your way out of that, you've got to stick together and people start to separate a little bit,” he said in regards to the team overcoming early struggles. “You could see it in body language and that sort of stuff.”

Gregg Popovich's words of wisdom do not apply solely to Victor Wembanyama, of course, but the 19-year-old center can benefit greatly from the 123-83 blowout loss in LA. While there will be brutal days ahead, he and this roster posses the necessary talent to eventually climb the Western Conference ladder. But they must first hone those crucial intangibles.