Terrible news for San Antonio Spurs fans as their star player Victor Wembanyama has been officially “shut down” by the organization for the rest of the season today after discovering a blood clot in his right shoulder. Wembanyama and the Spurs learned of this clot, which is being diagnosed as Deep Vein Thrombosis after the second year star arrived back from All-Star weekend on Monday. The initial release from the Spurs organization was first reported today by Shams Charania of ESPN.
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) February 20, 2025
The 7’3” Frenchman has had a phenomenal first half to the NBA season, earning his first All-Star accolade due to his averages; 24.3 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.7 assists on 47.6% field goal shooting. Wembanyama before today was the outright betting favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year after averaging 3.8 blocks per game this season. Wembanyama has also taken 403 three-pointers and already blocked 176 shots. No other NBA player has finished an entire season with those numbers, Victor did it before the All-Star break. Another unfortunate outcome from missing the rest of the season is that Wembanyama is no longer eligible for any season awards like All-NBA teams or Defensive Player of the Year.
Reporting for @SportsCenter on Victor Wembanyama sidelined for the season with what the Spurs believe is an isolated blood clot and will bring full recovery: pic.twitter.com/BWOOJXYl6C
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 20, 2025
I asked our experts at ThePredictors.com, Dr. Matthew Provencher and Tyler Zajac to give some insight into what this injury means in medical terms as well as his treatment and recovery. According to Dr. Provencher, Deep Vein Thrombosis can be rare when there is not an existing or prior injury. Tyler also added that this injury can also occur post surgery, which Wembanyama did not, which is why this injury is rare in this instance. Catching the clot early is the most important and is treated with anticoagulants for three to six months. The biggest reason as to why Wembanyama was shut down by the organization is that most professional sports leagues (that involve contact) do not allow athletes to play when on anti-coagulation drugs due to risks of bleeding.
The loss of Victor Wembanyama is the worst case scenario for the Spurs as they currently sit two spots out of tenth place in the Western Conference, vying for that last play-in spot for the playoffs. It is disappointing for Spurs fans as well because the front office made a major move of bringing in point guard De’Aaron Fox at the trade deadline. It will be interesting to see how this younger roster can develop in San Antonio without their star leading the way. For now all we can do as fans is wish Wemby as quick and safe recovery in hopes that this does not affect the budding superstars career down the road.
