Wembanyama Kicks Ball Out of Net as Spurs Ease Him Back From Knee Injury

Victor Wembanyama scored 30 in his return from a knee injury, but his most viral highlight of the night came during pregame warmups.

His high-flying ninja kick was incredibly cool to watch for everyone except the Spurs medical staff.

Wembanyama had missed the previous two games after hyperextending his left knee while skying for a rebound in a win over the Knicks. San Antonio’s superstar had been lobbying the training staff to let him back on the court since a few minutes after the scary-looking fall, and the team did their job in protecting him from himself.

Wembanyama did everything in his power to convince the Spurs, and indeed the public, that he was feeling alright. He told the fans as he hobbled off the court that he was okay. He came back to the bench with no limp and no ice, and stayed out on the floor to celebrate the big win with his teammates and the fans.

After the game he spoke to the media, and it seemed somewhat surprising that he was doing anything other than sitting in an ice bath or otherwise receiving treatment . He told the assembled press that he felt good, just sore, and then he said something that surely didn’t square with the medical team’s assessment. He admitted as much as he said it.

“I expect to be back next game,” he said. “I don’t know what they expect.”

That drive to be out on the court helping his team win is the mark of a maniacal competitor, something his coaches and teammates and fans love about him. If he chose to share an optimistic timeline for his return in an attempt to override the caution he knew would be coming from the medical staff, it did not work.

After six days, Wembanyama traveled with the team to Memphis and got cleared to play. He would come off the bench on a minutes restriction.

As the Spurs practiced shooting before the game, two balls got stuck in the net. More got added to the logjam, and Wembanyama decided he would solve the problem with his foot.

Wembanyama approached the basket and leapt into the air, kicking the ball that hung almost 10 feet above the ground with his right foot before landing on his left. His recreational reenactment of the Karate Kid crane kick wowed basketball fans and beyond as the video broke containment and went properly viral.

Still trying to figure out how Wemby can do this 😲pic.twitter.com/wp0CHGPllv
— NBA (@NBA) January 7, 2026

It was spectacularly impressive, but the training staff that spent so much time worrying about the health of that left leg in the last week and few months probably winced.

It must have been like a parent who sees their child climbing something and says, “Get down from there!” before watching in horror as the kid complies by attempting a backflip.

He stuck the landing, but somebody probably gave him a stern talking to about how he isn’t invincible, and how there’s a much less funny version of this story a few alternate universes away.

Wembanyama just turned 22, and it’s possible that he performed his airborne Rockette routine with simple childlike joy, without a thought given to the context. Maybe it’s only absurd to everyone else because they don’t live inside his alien body.

In fact, Wemby has spoken about doing a harder version of this exact move long before he trained with the monks. He claimed that he kicked a ball that was wedged between the rim and the backboard… when he was 14 years old.

Not the first time Wembanyama tried this type of kick, #porvida fans.... (via @OldManAndThree ) #nba #sanantonio https://t.co/oSLPTN1zAQ pic.twitter.com/BZ8fAeTpGO
— JeffGSpursKENS5 (@JeffGSpursZone) January 7, 2026

Wembanyama is also smart enough to know that there’s always a camera on him, and he’s smart enough to know what message he’s putting out there by performing an athletic feat nobody has ever seen before and landing on the left leg that’s kept him out of the last two games and each of the 14 he’s missed this season.

“See? I’m fine!” he may as well have yelled.

It set up an odd juxtaposition with his inevitable minutes restriction in the game that followed. Wembanyama scored 30 points in his return from the knee injury, but was glued to the bench for the final few minutes as the Spurs fell to the injury-riddled Grizzlies 106-105.

“If he’s healthy enough to do this, how come he’s coming off the bench on a minutes restriction?”

It’s an obvious question countless people asked, and the answer is just as obvious.

There’s no doubt that if it was up to Wemby he would have played more than 21 minutes, but it’s very clearly not his call to make. It’s not Mitch Johnson’s call either, but he’s the one who enforces the call.

“I'm expecting him to be tired in two minutes of game time tonight, and so at that stage, it would not be wise to have him try to push through,” Johnson said before the game. “And so that's where we just have to, as a staff, and particularly me, managing the game at times, keep him from himself and continue to grow and push the envelope in terms of incrementally growing in the area of minutes or workload.”

“But there's nothing that we're willing to risk long term or big picture with that guy, as we've said many times,” Johnson said.

Wembanyama knows what it’s like to have the game he loves taken from him suddenly and unexpectedly. His previous season ended because of a deep-vein thrombosis, a diagnosis with risk beyond basketball.

Thankfully he seems fully recovered, and the Spurs said they aren’t worried about him dealing with a blood clotting issue long term. Still, the experience will stick with Wembanyama.

“It’s life changing,” he said. "Spending so much time in hospitals, around doctors, hearing more bad news than I wish I heard, it’s traumatic."

Perhaps that trauma has shaded how Wembanyama responds to more standard basketball boo boos. What’s a sore knee to a guy who was diagnosed with something beyond his control that could have ended his career or worse?

Wembanyama was on Mitch Johnson and the medical staff to let him back from his left calf strain so he could help San Antonio compete for the NBA Cup. Just after getting back into the starting lineup he hyperextended his left knee, and he’s been pleading his case to return since a few moments after the injury. He wants to be out there desperately.

“It’s tough on that kid,” Johnson said after the game. “He’s got a lot of yo-yoing and back and forth. We’re trying to support him the best we can.”

When asked if the NBA’s 65-game rule for awards complicates things, Johnson said that it’s one of many factors that impacts the team but doesn't take precedence over Wemby’s wellbeing.

“I think it's real. I think Victor being 21 is real. I think this team being at the early part of the journey is real. I think the success that we've had, whether it was expected or not, is real,” Johnson said.

“What is the priority of all that? That I do know his long-term health, and making sure we keep that kid from himself in terms of his competitiveness. We want him to be healthy for years, not for trying to win the next couple games or whatever it may be,” Johnson said.

Wembanyama can’t control how long a leash he’s given, but as he showed everyone on Tuesday night, he can kick a basketball in a net almost 10 feet above the ground. Maybe that’s why he did it.

If the Spurs aren’t willing to risk Wembanyama’s health for a regular-season win, he probably shouldn’t risk it to show off his kung fu skills in warmups. That’s why the medical staff is in charge of risk mitigation, and as much as it frustrates the competitor in Wemby, he seems to truly appreciate the guardrail.

"I know the Spurs medical staff will do their job regardless," Wembanyama said in French after the Knicks win. "That’s what we expect from them, and they’re very good at staying objective.”

More from Spurs On SI: