Wembanyama exits Spurs’ win vs. 76ers with bruised rib

San Antonio–the Spurs ruled out Victor Wembanyama for the second part of monday night win 115-102 Above philadelphia 76ers Due to injury to left rib.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after the game that he had heard “nothing” yet regarding the severity of Wembanyama’s injury.

Vembanyama hurt in collision with 76ers forward paul george Near the half-court line with 10:47 left in the second quarter. They collided when a pass was thrown to Wembanyama as San Antonio began moving the ball up the floor in transition.

Vembanyama exited after the game and headed to the locker room with 6:49 left in the first half before returning to the bench. 44.3 seconds before intermission, Vembanyama asked to be excused again and went back to the locker room.

After intermission he did not come out of the locker room with the rest of the team. A few minutes later, Spurs announced that the 22-year-old big man would sit out the remainder of the game.

“I know he came back and he didn’t finish the job,” Johnson said. “At halftime, I was told he wasn’t coming back. I haven’t heard anything else up to this point. I think it would be positive that he felt he could come back, and he played the last four or five minutes of the half. So, that’s positive from my standpoint.”

Vembanyama played 15 minutes, 40 seconds, which will count towards eligibility for post-season awards, as players are given two exceptions to the requirement of playing 20 minutes in a game, as long as they play at least 15 minutes. The third-year veteran finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks.

The favorite to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year and an MVP contender, Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s three remaining games to maintain eligibility for postseason awards.

The Frenchman was coming off three consecutive games in which he scored at least 30 points and grabbed at least 15 rebounds along with three blocks. According to ESPN Research, it is the second-longest such streak since blocks were tracked in 1973–74, behind Shaquille O’Neal’s four-game run in 1999.

Wembanyama entered Monday’s game leading the Spurs in scoring with 24.9 points, rebounds (11.6) and blocks (3.1) per game.