San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama missed Saturday evening’s street loss to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airways Heart after spraining his proper ankle upon stepping on a ball boy’s foot throughout pregame warmups.
Wembanyama, 19, made a layup and tweaked his ankle when he stepped on the Mavericks worker after taking a couple of steps backwards close to the baseline. The Spurs star tried to stroll it off and seemed pissed off.
Victor Wembanyama lands awkwardly over ball boy, misses first NBA sport
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich made the ultimate determination to maintain Wembanyama on the bench regardless of the French phenom insisting he was good to play. San Antonio misplaced 144-119 and now have 22 losses within the final 23 video games.
“If it was a playoff sport, I in all probability would have performed him,” Popovich mentioned. “He isn’t glad about it, however I might slightly err on the conservative aspect because it’s the identical ankle that he simply obtained a time limitation on.”
Gregg Popovich calls Wemby’s damage a ‘freak accident’
Popovich, 74, mentioned he has by no means seen a “freak accident” just like the one which stored Wembanyama out of the competition.
“You see it on movie, you may’t imagine it,” Popovich mentioned.
Spurs lately set a franchise file for 18 consecutive losses in back-to-back seasons regardless of Wembanyama averaging 18.5 factors and 10.7 rebounds this yr.
