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Spurs Star Victor Wembanyama Makes Game 3 Status Official

The Defensive Player of the Year suffered a concussion in Game 2 that left his status moving forward in the series in question.
Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama reacts to a call by an official.
Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama reacts to a call by an official. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

The Spurs will be without star center Victor Wembanyama on Friday night for Game 3 of their first-round series against the Trail Blazers.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Friday night that Wembanyama was ruled out due to a concussion suffered during San Antonio’s 106–103 loss to Portland on Tuesday.

Wembanyama’s absence will be a huge factor for San Antonio, which is trying to win a playoff series with a young core that entered the postseason with just 270 combined minutes of playoff experience.

Wembanyama’s concussion came in the second quarter of Game 2

The Spurs had quite a scare in the second quarter of Tuesday’s Game 2 against the Blazers when Wembanyama took a hard fall, slamming his head on the court. He left the game and was ruled out with a concussion, leaving the timing of his return up in the air.

Given the spaced out schedule of the playoffs, Wembanyama had an outside chance of making it back on the court for Game 3 if his recovery was going smoothly, but also could be held back from returning for an extended period depending on how he was feeling.

On Thursday, the Spurs announced that Wembanyama would at least be traveling with the team to Portland for Games 3 and 4. He joined the Spurs on the court for shooting drills on Friday afternoon, but ultimately decided against pushing for a return.


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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.