{"id":1901107,"date":"2026-04-24T20:32:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1901107"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:32:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T17:32:45","slug":"victor-wembanyama-concussion-participates-in-spurs-shootaround-ahead-of-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1901107","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama (concussion) participates in Spurs shootaround ahead of Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Victor Wembanyama participated in the San Antonio Spurs shootaround on Friday, and he is listed as questionable (concussion protocol) for Friday night\u2019s Game 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs\u2019 All-Star fell face-first on the floor in the second quarter of the team\u2019s 106-103 loss in Game 2 on Tuesday evening, staying on the ground for a minute before running back to the locker room. He was later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7217458\/2026\/04\/21\/victor-wembanyama-concussion-protocol-spurs-nba-playoffs\/\">diagnosed with a concussion<\/a> and was out for the remainder of the game as the Blazers tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Wembanyama was seen at Spurs practice Thursday in a hoodie, walking around and taking close-range shots, but showed notable progression in his activity Friday. He was a full-go in the typical pedestrian shooting drills players do the morning before the game.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>He can potentially be cleared in time for a 7:30 p.m. local time tip-off, though that would be a surprisingly fast return for a franchise that is notoriously cautious with its players. The Spurs medical staff has been vigilant with Wembanyama\u2019s health this season, and the league\u2019s protocol is designed to mitigate the risk of a player experiencing a repeat concussion while they are still in recovery, which can be dangerous. Considering Wembanyama plays aggressively and hits the floor frequently, his return certainly carries more risk than many players.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>Before he can play, Wembanyama has to complete a \u201creturn to participation\u201d exertion process, which may include the shooting seen at shootaround. The exertion process includes work on a stationary bike, jogging, agility work and non-contact team drills, followed by an examination by team doctors in conjunction with the NBA\u2019s director of the concussion protocol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pretty straightforward,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said before the Spurs traveled to Portland. \u201cObviously, we hope he\u2019ll be back at some point. But we\u2019ll allow the protocol to play out. And again, there\u2019s nothing more important than his health.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"YjNR0vN6RzWfVyB\" data-horizontal=\"9\" data-vertical=\"16\" data-restricted-countries=\"BI,BY,CD,CF,CU,IQ,IR,KP,LB,LY,ML,NI,RU,SD,SO,SS,SY,UA,VE,YE,ZW\" data-restricted-countries-mode=\"block\" data-thumbnail-url style=\"padding:0\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:764px\"><\/div>\n<p>      <span data-type=\"application\/dash+xml\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/YjNR0vN6RzWfVyB\/Gj7FCd2HX4tR\/Gj7FCd2HX4tR.mpd\"><\/span><br \/>\n      <span data-type=\"application\/x-mpegURL\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/YjNR0vN6RzWfVyB\/Gj7FCd2HX4tR\/Gj7FCd2HX4tR.m3u8\"><\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<p>Wembanyama was getting up shots and smiling while talking to teammates and coaches at the conclusion of shootaround. Shortly after Luke Kornet and Dylan Harper spoke to the media, the Spurs PR staff asked reporters to leave.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs are 12-7 without Wembanyama this season, including the Game 2 loss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe played (the Blazers) three times without Victor,\u201d said Kornet, Wembanyama\u2019s backup at center. \u201cWe played a decent amount of games (without him), so I feel like you have those reps and you kind of know what the team looks like and different people take on different responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wembanyama\u2019s teammates were pleased with his progress, as Harper said Wembanyama looks \u201creally good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think he\u2019s progressing every day, and he\u2019s progressing well,\u201d Harper said Friday morning. \u201cAll we can really do is pray for him and just hope the trajectory he\u2019s going in just keeps happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PORTLAND, Ore. \u2014 Victor Wembanyama participated in the San Antonio Spurs shootaround on Friday, and he is listed as questionable (concussion protocol) for Friday night\u2019s Game 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Spurs\u2019 All-Star fell face-first on the floor in the second quarter of the team\u2019s 106-103 loss in Game 2 on Tuesday evening, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1901107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1901107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1901107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1901107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1901107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1901107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}