The San Antonio Spurs ruled out star center Victor Wembanyama for Thursday night’s showdown against the Denver Nuggets because of right ankle soreness.
The Spurs announced the decision about 45 minutes before tipoff against the visiting Nuggets and Nikola Jokic in a battle of two of the Western Conference’s top teams.
Wembanyama, who had been questionable on the NBA injury report ahead of the game, tested the ankle pregame before the Spurs opted to keep him out.
“We’ll be mindful of all of it,” coach Mitch Johnson said. “Fortunately, I think regardless, this is something we view as very short term. It’s very much how he’s feeling versus risk of bigger picture.”
ESPN’s Michael C. Wright contributed to this report.
