Just when it looked like the San Antonio Spurs were ready to make a run, Victor Wembanyama’s season was cut short.

It was announced that the 7’3 center would have to miss the rest of the ongoing campaign due to deep vein thrombosis, more commonly known as a blood clot, in his right shoulder. While this issue infamously put an end to 11-time NBA All-Star and now Hall of Famer Chris Bosh’s career, it was announced that the Spurs believe that Wembanyama’s case is not as serious and that he can make a full recovery in time for next season.

More recently, Brandon Ingram and Ausar Thompson have overcome similar blood clots and successfully played again in the NBA, providing Wembanyama with a blueprint for his return.

The timing is unfortunate for San Antonio and Wembanyama as the 21-year-old center is only a few days removed from his NBA All-Star game debut. He appeared in only 46 games for the Spurs which is unfortunate as he is 19 games short of the 65-game minimum for the league’s end of season awards. Wembanyama was poised to win the first of what most believe are several NBA Defensive Player of the Year trophies this year, but this will now have to wait for at least another season.

The Spurs are also missing out on the opportunity to integrate newly acquired point guard De’Aaron Fox alongside Wembanyama. The 27-year-old Fox, a one-time NBA All-Star, was acquired by San Antonio earlier this month to fast track this team’s development. He managed to play a mere five games with Wembanyama, all before the All-Star break, and their integration process will now have to wait until the offseason.

The silver lining for San Antonio though is that they are currently out of the Western Conference playoff race with a 24-29 win-loss record and they are not really forgoing that much this season with the loss of their generational superstar. They own the 10th best odds of winning the draft lottery at the moment, yet without Wembanyama, their chances are sure to improve in the coming weeks. 

Their fanbase’s hope of pairing Wembanyama and top prospect Cooper Flagg is once again alive and the race for the bottom between now and April will be an interesting one to watch.

This injury is, more likely than not, going to be nothing more than a footnote in Wembanyama’s career and the hope around the league is that he will be back at full strength sooner rather than later. The situations of Ingram and Thompson give everyone hope that this can be overcome and by the time the league tips off its next season this October, Wembanyama should be back in a Spurs uniform and ready to rumble.