San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama’s season is likely over after he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right shoulder, a condition that will sideline one of the league’s brightest stars and is the second massive health-related hit for the Spurs in a matter of months.
Wembanyama is beginning treatment immediately and the Spurs are working under the expectation that the 7-foot-3 center from France will fully recover, said a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because those details were not released publicly.
The Spurs begin their post-All-Star break schedule Thursday in Austin against the Phoenix Suns.
It may even be possible for Wembanyama — the NBA’s leading shot-blocker this season and a first-time All-Star — to play this summer for France in the European championships if he chooses, the person said.
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“You can’t replace Vic,” Spurs guard Chris Paul said. “I can’t stand on a guy’s shoulders and block every shot that comes to the rim. Aside from his basketball ability, his charisma and what he brings into the locker room, I think, is what we’ll miss the most.”
Wembanyama’s condition — deep vein thrombosis — was diagnosed this week after he returned from the All-Star Game, the Spurs said Thursday. It is almost always treated with blood-thinning medication, and players in contact sports such as basketball have long been advised to avoid playing while using such medication because of the heightened chance of bleeding.
Wembanyama’s diagnosis comes about 3 1/2 months after Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had a stroke and was forced to take a leave from the sideline, with assistant coach Mitch Johnson serving as acting coach ever since. The Spurs have said Popovich’s condition is improving, but there is no timetable for his return to the bench.
“Man, it’s been extremely tough, to say the least,” Paul said. “This organization, how they put everything into perspective. Obviously, the Pop situation, knowing what he means to the league and Vic, him playing his first All-Star Game … for us, we know we’ve got a job to do but just like anybody we worry about our people.”
Wembanyama was the league’s rookie of the year last season and the frontrunner to be defensive player of the year this season. He has already taken 403 3-pointers and blocked 176 shots this season — no player in NBA history has ever finished a season with those numbers, and Wembanyama did it this year by the All-Star break.
He is averaging 24.3 points, 11 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and 3.7 assists; the only other player to finish a season averaging all that was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76. Wembanyama had been listed as doubtful for that game because of illness.
Miami Heat forward Kevin Love, who learned of Wembanyama’s situation as he walked off the practice floor Thursday, said he was in “absolute shock.”
“First of all, you pray for him. You hope for the best, personally and professionally,” Love said. “He means so much to the league. He’s an incredible competitor and he has a runway to be the face of the league for the next 20 years. I can’t imagine this league without him in the short term or in the long term. He’s that important.”
Such cases have affected NBA players before, including now-retired Hall of Famer Chris Bosh — whose career was cut short after he was diagnosed with blood clots while playing with Miami. Brandon Ingram, now with the Toronto Raptors, had his 2018-19 season end early because of deep vein thrombosis when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Detroit’s Ausar Thompson had a clot issue that saw him miss the end of the 2023-24 season.
The question for the Spurs’ medical team to answer now surrounds why this happened to Wembanyama.
“Any time we have upper extremity or arm blood clots, we always need to ask ourselves why they happened,” said Dr. Geoffrey Barnes, an associate professor of cardiology and vascular medicine at the University of Michigan. “And so, looking for the cause is going to be a really important piece of this. … It’s really important to understand why this happened, because then that’ll dictate what the treatments are and what the long term consequences may be.”
Some athletes have come back, sometimes better than ever, after dealing with blood clots.
Serena Williams was diagnosed with the problem known as a pulmonary embolism — a clot on the lung — in 2011, and was the dominant women’s tennis player in the world again when she returned.
“Scariest thing I ever experienced,” Williams said months after returning.
Wembanyama — the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft — is widely considered the brightest young star in the game, someone who led France to the silver medal at last year’s Paris Olympics.
Paul said he’s talked with Wembanyama since the diagnosis, but did not share details.
“It’s tough,” Paul said. “It’s tough more than anything, I think for all of us, knowing how much he means to our team and but moreso knowing how much he means to the game and how much he loves to play.”
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