{"id":702446,"date":"2026-04-07T02:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702446\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T02:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:46:15","slug":"victor-wembanyama-leaves-spurs-76ers-early-with-left-rib-contusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702446\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama leaves Spurs-76ers early with left rib contusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama exited Monday\u2019s meeting with the Philadelphia 76ers early after suffering what the team termed a left rib contusion<\/a> in the first half.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama left the floor to go back to the Spurs\u2019 locker room early into the second quarter, after an open-court collision with 76ers forward Paul George just over a minute into the frame left him slow to get up and appearing to favor his left shoulder:<\/p>\n

He\u2019d return to the bench shortly thereafter, though, and check back into the game with 5:33 to go in the opening half, dueling with star Philadelphia center Joel Embiid over the next few minutes.<\/p>\n

Even as he continued to make an impact on both ends of the floor, though, Wembanyama continued to grimace, looking somewhat uncomfortable and not quite like himself.<\/p>\n

He checked out of the game with his left arm hanging down at his side, and went back to the locker room with 44 seconds remaining in the first half.<\/p>\n

When the Spurs returned after intermission, Wembanyama was not with them; reserve center Luke Kornet took his spot in the lineup to open the third quarter. Wembanyama finished with 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, five rebounds, three blocks and an assist in just under 16 minutes of work.<\/p>\n

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Without its leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker, San Antonio didn\u2019t miss a beat. Thanks to a triple-double from guard Stephon Castle (19 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists), who led six Spurs in double figures, the Spurs were able to withstand a 34-point performance from Embiid and finish off a 115-102 victory<\/a> to improve to 60-19 on the season. It\u2019s the eighth 60-win campaign in Spurs franchise history, and their first since 2016-17 \u2014 the last season that San Antonio won a playoff series. With the win, the Spurs stay 2.5 games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Wembanyama has been one of the literal and figurative biggest stories of the 2025-26 NBA season, establishing himself as one of the game\u2019s most overwhelming and irrepressible forces and catapulting the Spurs back into the playoffs for the first time since 2019. The third-year big man entered Monday\u2019s action averaging 24.9 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a league-leading 3.1 blocks in 29.4 minutes per game, shooting 50.9% from the field, 35% from 3-point range and 82.8% from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama\u2019s combination of offensive output, defensive dominance and clear impact on team success for the Spurs have vaulted him into the thick of the year-end awards races, as one of the top candidates for Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA and All-Defensive Team honors. In order to be eligible for those awards, though, he\u2019ll have to meet the 65-game threshold<\/a> under the player participation guidelines the NBA instituted before the 2023-24 season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Monday\u2019s game marked Wembanyama\u2019s 63rd regular-season contest of the season. Technically, though, it was his 64th qualifying contest, since the NBA Cup Final \u2014 in which Wembanyama played 25 minutes<\/a> as the Spurs lost to the Knicks<\/a> in Las Vegas \u2014 counts toward the 65-game total. Monday was also the second time this season that Wembanyama has played fewer than 20 minutes, but more than 15; each player is allowed to count two such \u201cnear-miss\u201d games toward the 65-game total.<\/p>\n

What that means: Despite leaving early Monday, Wembanyama needs to play 20 or more minutes one more time<\/a> over the Spurs\u2019 final three games to qualify for year-end awards. San Antonio finishes out the regular season at home, with games against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, Dallas Mavericks on Friday, and Denver Nuggets on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama exited Monday\u2019s meeting with the Philadelphia 76ers early after suffering what the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,149,187,936,304,4996,6,179,526,678,207,3817,471,969,474,930,2594,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-702446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-denver-nuggets","12":"tag-joel-embiid","13":"tag-knicks","14":"tag-luke-kornet","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","17":"tag-paul-george","18":"tag-philadelphia","19":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","20":"tag-philadelphia76ers","21":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","22":"tag-san-antonio","23":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","24":"tag-stephon-castle","25":"tag-the-spurs","26":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116361140108541605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}