On Feb. 20, the San Antonio Spurs announced the sidelining of their star center, Victor Wembanyama, for the remainder of the season as he recovers from a blood clot caused by deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Wemby’s condition is the same that notably cut Hall of Famer Chris Bosh’s career short.
Wemby reportedly noticed his right arm not feeling right and went to the Spurs’ medical staff. The Spurs later confirmed that Wembanyama would miss the remainder of the season. Injuries have been a part of Wemby’s story since he was drafted, with many critics and basketball analysts airing concerns early in his career.
With Wemby’s 7-foot-3 stature and lack of significant mass, most experts imagined ankle, wrist or knee problems would be recurrent. However, this size issue, combined with some potential basketball-specific causes of Wemby’s DVT, could take over this injury-prone narrative.
“There might be mechanical reasons, particularly in the shoulder of an NBA athlete,” medical practitioner Jonathan Reiner told NBA.com. “There’s obviously a lot of contact and collision. Those are the kinds of things that might damage a vein.”
Wemby’s lack of protective tissue in the form of muscle mass or fat may leave his veins vulnerable to damage from the natural wear and tear of the sport. While most NBA athletes may be able to absorb certain collisions, Wemby’s body may take the full front of the impact internally, leading to further issues like DVT.
This season, the French giant has been superb for San Antonio, named to the All-Star team and considered the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year as the NBA’s leading shot blocker. The Spurs have seen vast improvement this year, as they already have 25 wins this year, three more than the 2023-2024 season’s 22.
Despite the ominous context surrounding this injury, Spurs fans don’t yet need to be too concerned. While Bosh’s career was ended by DVT, he was an exceptional case. Brandon Ingram recovered from DVT to be an All-Star, and tennis legend Serena Williams’s DVT diagnosis in 2011 decidedly did not end her dominance.
Further, the Spurs’ medical experts indicated that they have no long-term concern about Wemby’s condition. The Associated Press reported that an anonymous source from within the organization told them that Wemby would be able to play in the European Championships this summer for France.
Still, the Spurs were in the race to earn a chance at the postseason and potentially offer San Antonio playoff basketball for the first time in the Frost Bank Center. With Wemby out, these hopes are likely sidelined until at least next season.
However, there’s yet a potential silver lining. Currently, the Spurs sit in the bottom ten NBA teams, and avid basketball fans recognize they will likely get yet another top pick in the draft lottery. Additionally, the Spurs hold the Atlanta Hawks’ first-round pick, which also has the chance of being a lottery pick. The Spurs are staring at the potential of adding not one, but two top 10 rookies to their squad.
On a surface level, a Victor Wembanyama season-ending injury means the sky is falling in San Antonio, but the opposite may be true. Given the state of affairs inside the organization, Wembanyama’s injury may just be a blessing in disguise and a curse to every other team in the Western Conference as they begin to notice the waking giant that is the five-time NBA champion and former dynasty San Antonio Spurs.
