San Antonio Spurs star center Victor Wembanyama is listed as out for Saturday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
An MRI on Thursday showed that Wembanyama did not sustain ligament damage to the left knee he hyperextended Wednesday night in a win over the New York Knicks, league sources told ESPN. But Wembanyama didn’t travel with the Spurs to Indianapolis for Friday’s 123-113 win over the Indiana Pacers because team officials wanted him to take advantage of the treatment options available at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio.
He was officially ruled out against the Trail Blazers on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday’s game will be the 14th that Wembanyama misses this season. Under NBA rules, players need to play in 65 of the 82 regular-season games to be eligible for most postseason awards, meaning Wembanyama could miss only three more games before being in danger of not being on those ballots.
After Saturday, the Spurs don’t play again until Tuesday at Memphis.
Wembanyama was injured with 10:32 remaining against the Knicks on Wednesday as he battled Karl-Anthony Towns and Jordan Clarkson for a rebound under the basket. Upon landing on the floor, Wembanyama immediately grabbed at his left knee. Teammate Stephon Castle stepped in to help Wembanyama back to his feet, and the center hobbled to the locker room under his own power.
As he left the floor, he yelled to fans in attendance at Frost Bank Center, “I’ll be all right.” Wembanyama returned to the bench with 1:22 left to play, wearing team warmups. He finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds in 24 minutes.
Wembanyama sat out 12 games earlier this season because of a left calf strain. The third-year center returned to the lineup Dec. 13 during for the NBA Cup semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder and came off the bench in his first six games after the injury before making his first start Dec. 27 in a 127-114 loss to the Utah Jazz.
He leads San Antonio in scoring (24.3 PPG), rebounding (11.7 RPG) and blocks (2.9 BPG).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
