What's at Stake With Wembanyama and Castle Out for Spurs vs. Trail Blazers

SAN ANTONIO - The Spurs will be without both Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Both young stars got a little banged up in the win over Philadelphia on Monday and were initially listed as doubtful on Tuesday's injury report. Castle is out with a right knee contusion after leading the Spurs to the win with the fifth triple-double of his career, while Wembanyama left that game with a bruised rib on his left side. Neither injury seems to be a long-term issue, which is good news as the playoffs approach.

Wembanyama is one game shy of meeting the 65-game minimum for awards eligibility, and ESPN's Shams Charania has reported that there's optimism that the clear-cut Defensive Player of the Year will appear in at least one of the two remaining regular-season games. The Spurs wrap up with Dallas on Friday and Denver on Sunday.

San Antonio might be on track for a second-round matchup against the Nuggets, but before that there's a very real chance the first playoff series this group plays will be against these young and scrappy Trail Blazers. The Spurs are essentially guaranteed as the second seed in the West, a result that will be set in stone with the next San Antonio loss or Oklahoma City win.

Portland has won eight of their last 11 games, with two of those losses coming against the Nuggets and one of those in overtime on Monday night. Deni Avdija leads the Blazers, averaging 24 points and 6.7 assists per game this season, and Castle's 7-foot-2 college teammate Donovan Clingan is becoming a force in the paint.

Luke Kornet is likely to start in place of Wembanyama, and was praised by Mitch Johnson for how he filled in for the second half against Philadelphia.

"I feel like in terms of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to play, it's all pretty consistent," Kornet said Monday night before joking about the differences between him and Wembanyama. "Obviously, he's multilingual, and he has an accent that I think makes the English kind of hit even better. It's less exciting to talk about screening and rolling and offensive rebounds, so I'll try to block more floaters on the backboard and see if that helps."

Though rookie Dylan Harper has been coming into his own lately Harrison Barnes seems most likely to fill the other empty slot in the starting five. Barnes has scored 729 points in 74 games this season. If he plays all three remaining games and scores a combined 41 points, the Spurs will be the first team in NBA history with eight players averaging 10 points or more.

WHO:

Portland Trail Blazers, (40-39, L1)
San Antonio Spurs (60-19, W1)

WHEN:

Wednesday, April 8 (Tipoff 8:30 p.m. Central)

WHERE:

Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, Texas

HOW TO WATCH:

ESPN | FanDuel Sports Network

INJURY REPORT:

POR:

Jerami Grant (right calf strain) - OUT
Damian Lillard (left achilles tendon) - OUT
Shaedon Sharpe (left fibula stress reaction) - DOUBTFUL
Vit Kreijci (left calf contusion)

SAS:

Victor Wembanyama (left rib contusion) - OUT
Stephon Castle (right knee contusion) - OUT
David Jones Garcia (ankle) - OUT
Harrison Ingram (two-way) - AVAILABLE
Emanuel Miller (two-way) - AVAILABLE