Victor Vembanyama has only one “joker” left.
Victor Vembanyamastill a “fake” 6th man for Spurs. Unlike the Thunder and the Knicks during the NBA Cup, the Frenchman came off the San Antonio bench once again last night, against the Wizards.
And “Wemby” again showed good production despite very limited playing time: 15 points (6/11), 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks in just 17 minutes. Before the meetingMitch Johnson also cautioned that his interior will continue to be governed by minutes. Caution remains in effect regarding the giant’s health.
“It’s one of those weird things now where you can’t talk about tonight’s game without talking about tomorrow’s. So this is his first back-to-back. Obviously, we’ve got to get right tonight first, and that’s where all our attention will be. But as far as his minutes, we’ll have to take that into account.”the coach explained.
After this no-brainer win against the worst team in the league, San Antonio travels to Atlanta the following night before meeting the Wizards, this time in Washington, on Sunday.
Playing time also takes into account
“And I don’t know what that’s going to mean, because, once again, we’ve got to run tonight’s game. But we also owe it to him to have a review, and that means we’ve got a game tomorrow. So obviously he’s not going to play his usual minutes.”Mitch Johnson added.
It remains to be seen how long this management will last, as it could struggle in the trophy race at the end of the season. As a reminder, a player must play at least 65 matches to be eligible.
Victor Vembanyama played his 14th match of the season last night. He has already missed twelve and Spurs have 56 games left: he can therefore still mathematically reach the threshold of 65. But this rule comes with from a lesser known point : during these matches you must play at least 20 minutes, with the exception of two matches where the playing time can be between 15 and 20 minutes.
However, he only played 17 minutes against Washington. Victor Vembanyama therefore has only one ‘wildcard’ left if he is to stay fully in the race for honors at the end of the campaign…
2025-12-19 09:30:00
