{"id":708006,"date":"2026-04-11T07:42:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T07:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/708006\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T07:42:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T07:42:46","slug":"victor-wembanyama-drops-historic-40-point-performance-against-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/708006\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama Drops Historic 40-Point Performance Against Mavericks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs<\/a> star Victor Wembanyama<\/a> delivered a masterclass in 26 minutes of playing time against the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> on Friday night. He was returning from a rib injury that had sidelined him in the Spurs’ previous game and put his end-of-season award eligibility in doubt.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama suffered a rib contusion<\/a> on Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> and was forced to exit early. He missed the game against the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> and was listed as questionable heading into Friday before ultimately suiting up.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old dominated, posting 40 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, one steal, and two blocks in just 26 minutes, shooting 14-of-23 from the field and 2-of-7 from three. He led the Spurs to a 139\u2013120 win over Dallas while achieving multiple historic milestones.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) looks to pass the ball while defended by Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell (7) during the second half at Frost Bank Center.Scott Wachter-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

According to the NBA<\/a>, Wembanyama recorded the fastest 40-point, 10-rebound, five-assist game in league history, doing so in just over 26 minutes. He also tied<\/a> David Robinson for the most 40-point, 10-rebound games in a single season in Spurs history with five, all while still managing the rib injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019d had 65 [games] before, I would, for sure, not have played,\u201d Wembanyama said postgame.<\/a><\/p>\n

The two-time All-Star needed at least 20 minutes in this game to meet the NBA\u2019s 65-game eligibility requirement for end-of-season awards, which he has now achieved. He is currently the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, potentially becoming the first <\/a>Spurs player to earn the honor since Kawhi Leonard<\/a> in 2016.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama is also in the MVP conversation, though recent polling suggests Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> remains the frontrunner. However, that does not diminish the remarkable season the Spurs star has put together, one that both began and may have ended with 40-point performances against Dallas.<\/p>\n

In 65 games, Wembanyama has averaged a career-high 25 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, along with 3.1 assists, 3.1 blocks, and one steal. He is shooting 51.2% from the field and 34.9% percent from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

His dominant play has sparked dynasty talk in San Antonio, especially with a promising young core that includes Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. With Friday\u2019s win, the Spurs improved to 62\u201319 on the season and clinched the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, reaching the 60-win season for the first time since the\u00a02016-17 campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: Victor Wembanyama Makes NBA History Against Warriors<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama delivered a masterclass in 26 minutes of playing time against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,5991,226,529,166,6,179,207,471,75005,969,474,209,930,2594,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-708006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-dwight-powell","13":"tag-dylan-harper","14":"tag-kawhi-leonard","15":"tag-mavericks","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","18":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","19":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","20":"tag-rib-injury","21":"tag-san-antonio","22":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","23":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","24":"tag-stephon-castle","25":"tag-the-spurs","26":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116384954000407536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708006","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=708006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}