The star rookie wasn’t a “happy camper” after learning he would have to sit out against Thunder.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, left, talks with Victor Wembanyama on the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Reduced to serving as the world’s tallest cheerleader, Victor Wembanyama wasn’t in the best of moods when he arrived at Paycom Center for the Spurs’ final road game of the season.
Making matters worse, he had to sit through the 38-point pounding the Oklahoma City Thunder put on the shorthanded visitors in a game between teams that had played the night before.
“I’m sure if we won, he’d be a little bit happier,” Spurs center Zach Collins said.
But without their rookie sensation, the Spurs never stood a chance against a Thunder squad that jumped out to a 34-11 lead in the first quarter on its way to shredding the Spurs’ skeleton crew 127-89 Wednesday night to improve to 55-28 and stay in contention for the No. 1 seed in the West.
Had Wembanyama played, things might have been different.
The last time the clubs squared off, the Spurs stunned the Thunder 132-118 in late February at the Frost Bank Center behind a historic performance by Wembanyama, who finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and two assists to become the first player in NBA annals with 10 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and five 3-pointers in a game.
Add it all together, and Wednesday was indeed a tough night for Wembanyama.
“He loves basketball, loves to compete,” Collins said. “He’s a basketball player, and anytime you’re kind of told to sit out and you don’t have to, it can definitely get to you. And I know how competitive he is, and, yeah, you could tell he wasn’t too happy.”
Wembanyama talked after last Friday’s win at New Orleans about his desire to play in every game in the final week of the season.
“I made a commitment to this team,” the 20-year-old Frenchman said. “I have a responsibility towards the organization and the team and the fans, so there’s no reason to sit out.”
It’s an attitude Gregg Popovich admires.
“Everybody that’s made it to this level has a pretty good commitment,” the Spurs coach said before Wednesday’s game. “It’s not easy reaching the NBA level and playing because there’s somebody that always wants your job. And then when you get to the most talented players, that’s what makes them special, to have that kind of a commitment.”
But Popovich is also committed to the franchise and the fans. That’s why he convinced Wembanyama to take the night off for injury management to his right ankle even though he generally had been playing back-to-backs over the past few months.
The No. 1 overall pick spent much of December and January under a minutes restriction stemming from an ankle sprain that also left him prohibited from back-to-backs for a period.
“I feel badly because he’s not a happy camper right now with me,” Popovich said. “He wants to be out there, but I’m looking at the long view and we’ve had some trouble with this particular injury during the season, and as everybody knows, we’ve had to limit minutes for quite a while and had to keep him out of back-to-backs. And down the stretch in the season here, the last back-to-back, it just doesn’t make sense to me to push it. Because if something did happen, I’d have to look in the mirror and say, ‘What the hell were you thinking?’
“So, I’ve got to think long term like we did with Timmy (Duncan) in this sense.”
The move wasn’t a surprise after Popovich said after Tuesday night’s 102-87 win at Memphis he was thinking about sitting Wembanyama in Oklahoma City after he played 31 minutes against the Grizzlies.
It was Wembanyama’s seventh consecutive outing in which he logged 30 or more minutes, including a season-high 43 in last Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia in double overtime.
“We’re going to talk it out,” Popovich said after Wembanyama recorded 18 points, seven rebounds, seven blocks and six assists in Memphis.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) and head coach Gregg Popovich talk before the start of the NBA game against the Phoenix Suns at Frost Bank Center on Monday, March 25, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Wembanyama did not play in the game due to a sprained left ankle.Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) lies on the court in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)Brandon Dill/Associated Press
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) walks off of the court after the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Memphis Grizzlies Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)Brandon Dill/Associated Press
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich reacts to receiving a technical foul during the second half against the Golden State Warriors at Frost Bank Center on Sunday, March 31, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. The Warriors defeated the Spurs 117-113.Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich talks to center Victor Wembanyama (1) during a timeout in the second half against the Memphis Grizzlies at Frost Bank Center on Friday, March 22, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs fell to the Grizzles, 99-97.Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, left, talks with center Victor Wembanyama during the first half of the team’s NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks in San Antonio, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay/Associated Press
The conversation ended with Wembanyama agreeing to follow Popovich’s wishes.
“Fortunately for me, he’s smart enough to understand (the long view) even though he doesn’t like it,” Popovich said.
The coach was noncommittal when asked if Wembanyama would return for Friday night’s home game against Denver, the Spurs’ next to last game of the season.
“We don’t have a plan yet,” Popovich said. “Just see how his ankle is and we’ll go from there.”
The Spurs, who fell to 20-60 overall and 2-8 without Wembanyama, also played Wednesday without Devin Vassell (season-ending foot injury), Jeremy Sochan (season-ending ankle surgery), Keldon Johnson (foot), Cedi Osman (ankle) and Dominick Barlow (knee).
The Spurs finished 10-31 on the road after going 8-33 in 2022-23.
Starting at center in place of Wembanyama, Collins led the Spurs with 20 points.
Rookie Sidy Cissoko finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes, all season highs. Tre Jones and second-year two-way guard RaiQuan Gray each had 13 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 26 points. Josh Giddey contributed 20 points and Gordon Hayward had 18.
Chet Holmgren, the expected runner-up to Wembanyama in rookie of the year voting, had nine points, six rebounds and two assists in just 15 minutes as Oklahoma City finished 3-1 against the Spurs this season.
Losing the opportunity to go head to head again with Holmgren likely was also a bummer for Wembanyama.
But, as Collins pointed out, the 7-footers should have plenty more clashes in the future.
“He’ll be fine,” Collins said of Wembanyama. “He’s (20), man. He’s got a lot more games coming.”
