After watching the Denver Nuggets snap their 11-game winning streak, the San Antonio Spurs bounced back with an impressive 115-102 win over the surging Philadelphia 76ers to push their season total to 60 wins.
Still, the story of the night was Victor Wembanyama exiting the game in the first half with an apparent shoulder injury after a collision with Paul George. Although Wembanyama is expected to play at least one more regular-season game to hit the 65-game requirement, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says that incident showed how fragile the Frenchman can be.
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“We forget how slim he really, really is. And so when you see something like that happen, it reminds you of the vulnerability — where’s the beef? The one thing that’s lacking on him is that beef, that meat right there,” Smith said.
Wemby needs more muscle
Wembanyama is among the frontrunners for MVP — alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — with some believing he could surpass Derrick Rose as the youngest MVP in NBA history. He is also the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Yet despite his dominance on both ends of the court, Smith says the 22-year-old needs to add more muscle.
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Heading to the 2023 NBA Draft, Wembanyama weighed around 210 pounds. He’s now listed at 235 pounds on the league’s official website. Still, with his continued growth — now standing at 7-foot-4 on NBA.com — the 22-year-old remains extremely slender for his size and frame, a factor highlighted when he suffered an injury following contact with George.
“This is not Shaquille O’Neal, where you know you run to the bench for a loose ball, and the entire bench clears cuz you’re coming. Wemby? They’re ready to catch you. That’s the difference,” he added.
Nothing major per Shams
Meanwhile, the Spurs faithful can breathe a sigh of relief after X-ray results following the game revealed no serious damage; it wasn’t a shoulder injury but a left rib contusion. ESPN’s Shams Charania said the imaging results confirmed head coach Mitch Johnson’s hunch that it was nothing serious.
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“I’m told the Spurs are not anticipating this to be a major injury,”said Charania on NBA Today. “He underwent X-Rays last night, on that rib, and X-Rays for Victor Wembanyama that returned negative, I am told. He will undergo more testing later today, but there is hope and optimism that those tests will confirm what they felt last night: that it’s nothing major.”
The Spurs’ next game is at home on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers, and Wembanyama is listed as doubtful. After the Blazers, the Spurs face the Denver Nuggets on Friday, then close out the regular season against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of those games to retain eligibility for MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. He should get to 65 games, but teams will play them more physically moving forward, knowing that vulnerability is still there.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.