Victor Wembanyama is dangerously close to being ineligible for end-of-season awards. The San Antonio Spurs superstar exited Monday night’s win against the Philadelphia 76ers with what the team called a left rib contusion. It happened with 10:47 left in the second quarter when he collided with Paul George, who attempted a steal when Wembanyama had the ball. Upon contact, Wembanyama immediately fell to the floor in pain, grabbing at his left elbow and shoulder area.
Wembanyama fell to the floor in pain, but remained in the game for another possession. He then checked out moments later and headed back to the locker room.
Wembanyama managed to return to the game with a few minutes remaining in the second quarter, but was ruled out for the rest of the game at halftime.
After the win, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had no update on Wembanyama’s status.
“Nothing,” Johnson said. “That’s not even placating anything, I’m not sure. I know he came back and he just didn’t finish. At halftime, I was told he wasn’t coming back. Honest to God, I haven’t heard anything else to this point.”
Though Johnson had no update, he said he thinks it’s a “positive” that Wembanyama managed to return to play the final few minutes of the first half. That is a bit of positive news for the Spurs to hold onto until they get official word of his status for their Wednesday night game against the Portland Trail Blazers. The hope is that Wembanyama is ready to go and won’t miss any time, especially this close to the playoffs.
How could this affect Wembanyama’s awards eligibility?
Wembanyama is sitting at 64 games played, one shy of the 65-game minimum required to be eligible for end-of-season awards. If you’re wondering why every stats-keeping site says Wembanyama has played in 63 games, the league office confirmed to CBS Sports that the NBA Cup final does count toward the 65-game minimum, despite it not counting for a team’s regular-season record.
At 64 games, Wembanyama needs to play in one of the Spurs’ remaining three games to remain eligible for awards like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA and All-Defensive teams.
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To make matters worse, Wembanyama can’t even just check in for a few minutes to satisfy the requirement. Because he only logged 15 minutes in Monday night’s win, he’s used up the two games players are allowed to play under 20 minutes, but a minimum of 15 minutes. So, Wembanyama will need to play at least 20 minutes in any one of San Antonio’s three games to remain eligible.
It’s the latest example of another star player needing to jump through hoops to remain eligible for awards that they are unequivocally deserving of. Luka Dončić, now out with a hamstring injury, needs to file an “extraordinary circumstances grievance” to be eligible for awards after missing two games for the birth of his daughter earlier this season. Cade Cunningham is currently dealing with a collapsed lung, but because it’s not a season-ending injury, he’ll need to suit up for one more game to remain eligible.
How much more proof does the league need to show that the 65-game rule isn’t working? Perhaps all these examples will serve as the catalyst for change this summer.
