Victor Wembanyama — the Spurs’ All-Star center and face of the franchise in just his second season — is expected to be out for the remainder of the season due to deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, the team announced.
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) February 20, 2025
Wembanyama was symptomatic heading into the All-Star break but hoped with downtime after the game he would heal, but when that didn’t happen the team ran tests and discovered the real issue, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. The Spurs believe this is an isolated clot — something likely caused by an injury to the area — and he will fully recover. Diagnosing this early could have been life-saving for the 21-year-old French phenom.
Blood clotting is a serious issue that has to be treated before it causes more serious problems. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is more common and more dangerous when it happens in the legs (as happened with Chris Bosh, for example). In either the upper or lower body, the concern is that a part of the clot can break away and travel to a patient’s lungs, where it can cause serious damage and, in a worst-case scenario, death.
Part of the treatment is to put the person on an anticoagulant medication, a blood thinner that prevents additional clots from forming and allows the existing clot to be absorbed (usually that takes at least three months). However, because the blood thinner can lead to excessive bleeding in the case of another injury (particularly from an internal injury), players on the medication cannot compete because the risks are too great.
Re: Victor Wembanyama: A deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a clot that develops in one of the major veins of the body, usually in the lower extremity. Brandon Ingram also developed a DVT in his shoulder, missing the final 19 games of the 2018-19 season.
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) February 20, 2025
Ingram’s case was tied to an isolated injury and he returned fully healthy, continuing his career without incident. Hopefully, that will be the case with Wembanyama.
Wembanyama was in the middle of an All-NBA season and was the clear frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year but he will not be eligible for postseason awards now (he has played in 46 games this season, missing the 65-game cutoff the league established for major awards). He is averaging 24.3 points and 11 rebounds a game, and leads the league in blocked shots at 3.8 a game, although that doesn’t begin to tell the full story of his defensive impact.
At 23-29, the Spurs are 12th in the West, 3.5 games out of the play-in. It now seems next to impossible that they will be able to climb into the postseason despite trading for De’Aaron Fox at the deadline. The Spurs control their own first-round pick this season, which currently would be 10th heading into the lottery.
