The San Antonio Spurs will look to keep their dreams of winning the NBA Cup alive when they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers in a cup quarterfinal game on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the Spurs won’t have the services of star center Victor Wembanyama in the game.

Wembanyama has been sidelined since he suffered a left calf strain against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 14. He’s missed 11 straight games for the Spurs, and he’s still not ready to return to game action quite yet.

Victor Wembanyama ruled out of NBA Cup matchup with Lakers 

The former No. 1 pick has been officially ruled out of the game against the Lakers as he continues to recover from the calf strain.

The good news for Spurs fans is that Wembanyama recently returned to practice as a full participant, so a return should be on the horizon. Following their game against L.A., the Spurs have a full week off from games. That extended stretch of rest could be beneficial for Wembanyama, who could potentially return when the Spurs host the Washington Wizards on Dec. 17.

While the Spurs would obviously like to have Wemby available for what projects to be a challenging matchup with the Lakers, they’ve been able to hold it down without him. They’ve gone 8-3 in the 11 games that he missed and they currently sit fifth in the Western Conference standings with a record of 16-7.

Before he went down with the calf injury, Wembanyama was playing the best ball of his young career. In 12 appearances on the season, he’s averaging 26.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. He was also the heavy favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year. His ability to win that award is now in jeopardy due to the 65-game minimum threshold that was established by the NBA a couple of years back.

The cup contest on Wednesday night will be the second meeting of the season between San Antonio and L.A. The Lakers pulled out a 118-116 victory over the Spurs in early November. Wembanyama played in that game and had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in 33 minutes.Â