NBA fans got some brutal news on Thursday morning as the Spurs announced that Victor Wembanyama will miss the remainder of the season. Wemby has played in 46 of the Spurs’ 52 games so far this season and just participated in his first All-Star Game over the weekend.
The dominant young French big man was listed as Doubtful for Thursday night’s game with an illness before this news broke. Apparently, he has been feeling fatigued recently which led to testing that discovered a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, which is essentially blood clots.
The good news is that the doctors caught this and the Spurs are optimistic that it’s an isolated incident and Wembanyama will make a full recovery in time for next season. But it’s horrible news for NBA fans in the present.
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
A season-ending injury to a player of this magnitude will have ripple effects felt all across the league and the Nuggets are no exception. Here are three ways this news impacts the team in Denver.
1. Nuggets fans robbed of another classic Jokic/Wemby matchup
The Spurs and Nuggets have already played two instant classic games this season which the teams split. Nikola Jokic and Wemby were both incredible and the clash of titans felt like a present vs. future matchup of the two best centers alive.
The two teams are scheduled to play once more on April 2nd, but that game has lost all its luster without the Jokic/Wemby dynamic.
2. Potential playoff opponent no longer a worry
Along those same lines, the Spurs proved that thanks to Wemby, they can pose a tough matchup for the Nuggets. San Antonio is currently in 12th place but after adding De’Aaron Fox at the trade deadline, they were poised to make a push for a play-in spot.
If they could have snuck their way up to the 7th seed there was a scenario where they could have faced Denver in the first round. That would have been a nightmarish first-round matchup for the Nuggets and one of the only ones that could actually pose some type of tangible challenge for Jokic, but now that’s off the table.
3. Spurs should be even stronger competition in future
The silver lining for the Spurs is that now they can easily enter the tanking race. As it stands, the Spurs have the 10th best odds at the #1 pick, but without Wemby, they could realistically climb as high as 5th. The Spurs have a roster loaded with young talent and now they may be able to add another true blue-chip prospect in the draft.
If the Spurs can land a stud like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper to their young core this summer, they could suddenly be set up to truly dominate the NBA for years to come. That would be painful for the Nuggets as well as every other team in the league.