SAN ANTONIO — The Spurs ruled Victor Wembanyama out for the second half of Monday’s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers because of a left rib contusion.
Wembanyama suffered the injury in a collision with 76ers forward Paul George near the half-court line with 10:47 left in the second quarter. The two collided when Wembanyama was thrown a pass as San Antonio started to advance the ball up the floor in transition.
Wembanyama subbed out after the play and headed to the locker room, before returning to the bench with 6:49 left in the first half. With 44.3 seconds left before intermission, Wembanyama asked to be subbed out again and walked back to the locker room.
He didn’t come out with the rest of the team after halftime, and minutes later the Spurs announced the 22-year-old would sit out the remainder of the game.
Wembanyama played 15:40, which will count toward eligibility for postseason awards as players are granted two exceptions to the requirement of playing 20 minutes in a game as long as they played at least 15 minutes. The third-year veteran finished with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.
The favorite to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year and a contender for MVP, Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s remaining three games to maintain eligibility for postseason awards.
The Frenchman was coming off a string of three straight games in which he scored at least 30 points and tallied at least 15 rebounds with 3 blocks. The streak tied for the second-longest behind Shaquille O’Neal’s four-game run in 1999 of such games, since blocks were tracked in 1973-74, according to ESPN Research.
Wembanyama entered Monday’s game leading the Spurs in scoring (24.9 points per game), rebounds (11.6) and blocks (3.1).
