Victor Wembanyama, unfortunately, suffered a left calf strain in Friday night’s game against the Golden State Warriors.
Wembanyama missed time last season with a blood clot issue in his arm, and is now expected to miss 2-3 weeks at a minimum.
The San Antonio Spurs 21-year-old superstar stands at 7-foot-4, but there are speculations that he may be even taller.
Someone of that height, with his frame, is much more susceptible to injury.
He is a generational talent and has G.O.A.T. Potential, but the Spurs should treat this injury with extra care.
For comparison, Tyrese Haliburton’s torn ACL began with a slight calf injury, something he continued to play on, leading to something much more serious.
One small move for Wembanyama, and his career is on a much worse trajectory.
Haliburton is a guard, but he and Victor have a similar role where they can play beyond the arc.
To fully understand his injury, it may be helpful to compare him to someone similar to his frame.
That may be impossible considering he is one of a kind; however, the closest player in terms of physique and similar injury could be Kristaps Porziņģis, who suffered a calf strain in the 2024 playoffs, the year the Boston Celtics and Porziņģis won the championship.
Porziņģis has dealt with injuries for the majority of his career; in fact, he has only ever played in 72 games once, and it was his rookie season.
Rewind to 2019, and he missed a full season to rehab a torn ACL.
Since then, he has been injury-prone, whether he receives proper treatment or not.
This is exactly what you want to avoid with Wembenyama.
He seems to take extreme care of his body, and his trainer, Guillaume Alquier, worked with him in France before the NBA and now with the Spurs.
An injury like this has a ripple effect, and if you rush him back into playing, he may just put more unnecessary wear and tear on his body.
It may look like something small now, but a player of Wembanyama’s stature, mixed with his talent, you don’t want to take any risks.
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