The San Antonio Spurs had their second game of round one against the Portland Trail Blazers on April 21. After only 12 minutes of play, Spurs center Victor Wembanyama hit his head on the hardwood as he was being guarded by Blazers guard Jrue Holiday. He fell chin first and briefly lost consciousness. Fellow Spurs players guard Dylan Harper, forward Carter Bryant, guard Stephon Castle and forward Harrison Barnes came to check in on Wembanyama while he tried to sit up.
Wembanyama ran to the locker room and was immediately put into concussion protocol. The NBA’s concussion protocol states, “if a player is diagnosed with a concussion, he cannot return to full participation without restrictions: (i) for at least 48 hours after the time of injury; and (ii) until after he completes the required return-to-participation process.”
Barnes was forced out of the game with a shoulder stinger, and Harper was forced to the bench with a jammed thumb. Harper and the Spurs continued playing a close game after losing one of their key players and facing two more injuries but lost 106-103. Wembanyama was not present for the three regular season games against the Trail Blazers. The Spurs won two of those three games without Wembanyama and have to prove they can do the same in the playoffs.
When asked how the team will regroup without Wembanyama, point guard De’Aaron Fox stated, “Obviously that’s a big piece that’s gonna be missing but we’ve played games without him. We’ve played games without a plethora of guys. I mean we didn’t even play Portland with Vic until the first playoff game. You say next-man-up mentality, but the entire team needs to step up cause he leaves a big hole in the lineup offensively and defensively. We obviously don’t know how long he’s going to be out, but we gotta be ready to play without him.”
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson provided an update on Wembanyama stating, “He looks good. The update is that he is following the league’s protocol, and he is progressing, and he’ll travel with the team.”
Wembanyama travelled with the Spurs for game three and cheered on his team from the bench, as the Spurs took the win over the Trail Blazers 120-108.
Wembanyama was listed as questionable for game four, but just an hour before the game, he was cleared from concussion protocol and ready to play. He had 34 minutes of play time and scored 27 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks, helping lead the team to victory 114-93.
Although he was able to play in game four, Wembanyama disagreed about how the league handled his injury.
“I won’t get into the details. I don’t want it to become a distraction. Ask me again after the end of the season, but again all the doctors especially on the Spurs, the doctors all around, they were great, took great care of me. But the way the situation was handled was very disappointing, not on the Spurs. But as I said I won’t get into the details,” Wembanyama said in his post game interview.
