According to Saturday's San Antonio Spurs injury report, superstar Victor Wembanyama has played his last game of what's been a spectacular rookie season. Listed as “out,” the update comes less than a day after after Gregg Popovich mused and his star player feared that Sunday's regular-season finale would be a no-go for the generational talent.
“Knowing Victor, he'll have me in a headlock telling me that he wants to play like today,” the Spurs head coach said before Friday's upset win vs. the Denver Nuggets.
The Hall of Fame coach held Wemby out of Wednesday's blowout to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
At #Spurs shoot-around
⬇️#VictorWembsnyams is not on the team’s injury report after being held out of Wednesday’s game at Oklahoma City and some initial uncertainty from Pop on whether he’d play tonight.#Spurs #GoSpursGo #PorVida pic.twitter.com/AVK56rzpCt
— Hector Ledesma (@HectorLedesmaTV) April 12, 2024
Wemby later confirmed he didn't physically impose himself on the winningest coach in NBA history. With a caveat.
“Not literally, but almost.”
The Spurs latest injury listing ends nearly 24 hours of uncertainty as to whether we've seen the “Alien” for the last time in 2023-24.
The back and forth of Victor Wembanyama's Spurs finale status
The questions actually started before Friday's 121-120 victory vs. the Nuggets.
“Yet to be determined,” Popovich answered when asked prior to the Denver game about the 7-foot-4 phenom's status for the Detroit Pistons.
“It's been a year long thing since we sent him to LA [Los Angeles]. The medical people put the minutes restriction and the back to back restriction on him. That didn't just happen. That's been a process that we'll continue with. In a way, this is sort of a back to back since the game is at 2:30 on Sunday,” the longest tenured coach in the NBA said as he gave a first glimpse into the ultimate decision.
“It will depend on how much he plays tonight I think. I don't think we're going to move up in the rankings if we win today,” Popovich sarcastically said during that pregame session before concluding, “I've got to give him credit for wanting to play. That's just who he is.”
Following the thrilling win vs. the Nuggets when reporters broached the subject again, Popovich's response stuck to what he'd said four and a half hours earlier.
“How many minutes did he play?”
When told the prohibitive Rookie of the Year favorite spent 37 minutes on the court, Pop dished out another clue.
“I don't know if he's going to listen to me or not, but we”ll see. That's a lot of minutes,” the 75-year-old coach said.
“Manu [Ginobili] won it once in a while, so he might,” Pop answered, referencing another Hall of Famer from the Spurs glory days when asked if the 20-year-old big man stood a chance to win the argument.
“I know this has been in the air. I've felt it,” Wembanyama said about the possibility that he may he have played his last game of the season with 34 points and 12 rebounds vs. Denver.
“I'm always going to fight to play and to fulfill what I've got to do with this team this season,” the prohibitive Rookie of the Year continued, though he also understood the reality. “I'm sure it doesn't matter because, at the end of the day, I'm going to say I feel well. I know he might say no, he might say yes, but I feel well. Even if I played 48 minutes, I would've been ready.”
Advised by former Spurs great and current broadcast analyst Sean Elliott to tell Pop who the boss is during a post-game interview, Wemby went along with the fun.
“He knows already.”
Wembanyama ends his rookie season by averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, an NBA leading 3.6 blocks, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
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