The San Antonio Spurs will be without Victor Wembanyama for a while.
An MRI on Monday confirmed that Wembanyama is dealing with a left calf strain, the team announced. While they did not provide a timeline for his absence, he will reportedly miss “a few weeks” dealing with the injury, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
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Further specifics on the injury or how long he will be out are not yet known. Based on Charania’s timeline, Wembanyama will now be out until early December at best.
Wembanyama first suffered the injury in Friday night’s NBA Cup loss to the Golden State Warriors. Wembanyama remained in that contest the entire time, and blocked a Jimmy Butler layup attempt in the final minute after he got into it with Draymond Green earlier in the period. But Stephen Curry, who had 49 points, hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds to seal the one-point win for Golden State. Wembanyama had 26 points and 12 rebounds in that game.
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The Spurs then ruled Wembanyama out of Sunday’s win over the Sacramento Kings due to the calf injury after previously listing him as questionable.
Wembanyama has averaged 26.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game this season while shooting better than 50% from the field. The 21-year-old has looked back to his old self after he was limited to just 46 games last season while dealing with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.
The Spurs opened the season this fall on a five-game win streak, which was the best start in franchise history. Though they’ve lost two of their last three, they hold a 9-4 record entering Tuesday’s contest with the Memphis Grizzlies.
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