For the first time in his young NBA career, Victor Wembanyama came off the bench when the San Antonio Spurs faced the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
It marked Wembanyama's return from a calf strain that cost him a month of action, and the dominance exuded in his 21 minutes saw the Spurs end the Thunder's 16-game winning streak.
Wembanyama scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots as the Spurs won, 111-109, and reached the championship game against the New York Knicks.
Is Victor Wembanyama on a minutes restriction?
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said that Wembanyama was on a minutes restriction in his first game back.
Wembanyama played 21 minutes against the Thunder on Saturday. It's the second-fewest minutes he's logged in an NBA game, his career-low being 19:41 from his rookie season.
It made sense from San Antonio's point of view, and Wembanyama agreed: no one wanted to take unnecessary risks with a player of his talent, importance and youth.
So entering Tuesday night's game in Las Vegas, with the season's first trophy at stake, the Spurs may well continue to play it safe with Wemby and play him a similar amount relative to the Thunder game.
Wembanyama is gradually expected to ramp up to his season average of just under 34 minutes per game. Even if the All-Star big man is unlikely to reach that figure against the Knicks, the 20-plus minutes he is expected to play should be highly impactful.
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