With a two-night break in their schedule, it's fair to expect Victor Wembanyama will play in Tuesday's San Antonio Spurs contest vs. the Utah Jazz.
Of course, that assumption held leading into Saturday night's game at the Dallas Mavericks.
“It's tough. It's a weird one, you never really see that. We were just hoping that he was good,” Spurs youngster Jeremy Sochan said of a pregame incident involving Wembanyama and a Mavs ball boy Saturday, “I know he was getting it tested before the game and I agree with Pop. There's no need to risk something that he already, kind of, hurt before, you know, recently. I'm just happy that he's good.”
Victor Wembanyama appears to be fine
The end of Sochan's previous comment is the common sentiment about the Victor Wembanyama injury.
“If it was a playoff game, I probably would've played him. He's not happy about it, but I would rather err on the conservative side since it's the same ankle that he just got time limitation on, but just a freak, freak accident before the game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich admitted as he detailed Saturday's incident. “He was warming up and he came down on a ball boy's foot and tweaked his ankle again. Maybe he could've played. He probably could've played.”
“You see it on the film, you can't believe it,” the Hall of Fame coach concluded.
Spurs dealing with Wemby incident
The surprise of going through the 144-119 loss in Dallas without their rookie star was a reality for which the Spurs were not prepared.
“We're brothers in the locker room. We're together so much during the year, during the offseason. We've got to be careful. People around us (have) got to be careful and, at the end, it's important that everyone stays healthy. Situations like that are tough,” Sochan shared.
The top overall pick in this past June's draft just missed the second game of the month and of his young career with a sore right ankle that held him out of Tuesday's loss at the Milwaukee Bucks. Wemby returned for Thursday's game in Chicago, a 114-95 loss in which the generational prospect put up some of the lowest numbers of his rookie year thus far, including a career-low seven points. He saw the floor for only 22 minutes that night as the staff monitored his playing time.
Spurs look to move forward regardless
The Silver and Black don't anticipate being without Victor Wembanyama for a significant amount of time. Including a 121-106 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans on Dec. 1, the Spurs are now 0-3 without the 7'4 marvel. Their average margin of defeat in those contests is 17.7 points, which is approximately five points greater than the average difference in their 28 games to this point.
“Next play, next play. It's unfortunate but I feel like we all believe in each other and we've just got play through it. It is what it is at the end of the day and just keep going,” Sochan said on life without Wembanyama.
Tuesday's game vs. the Jazz will be the first of three for the Spurs this season. Utah is 12-18 on the season.
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