Victor Wembanyama Likely Restricted vs. OKC Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder are likely to have to deal with star big man Victor Wembanyama in Saturday's NBA Cup Semi Final. Mitch Johnson detailed the plan for deploying their franchise player.

Dec 10, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

On Saturday, the San Antonio Spurs will likely see star big man Victor Wembanyama return from a multi-week absence as he has nursed a calf strain. The Spurs tab the global icon as probable for this tilt with Oklahoma City.

Of course, returning to action is always an adjustment but especially against the league's best defense. As San Antonio head coach Mitch Johnson took the podium during Friday's NBA Cup Media Day, he detailed the plan for Wembanyama's return.

“I would suspect an early sub and not his normal minutes," Johnson said at Friday's NBA Cup Media Day.

This makes sense to slow play his return, the franchise altering big man is not only their best player but long-term casts fear into the rest of the league of what this roster can become with him at the helm. It appears he will be on a minutes restriction in Saturday's affair.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have to be prepared to battle with one of the league's best players regardless of how often he is on the floor. The Thunder know what a challenge it will be as All-Defensive swingman Jalen Williams detailed.

“[Victor Wembanyama's] kind of like in a class of his own. A lot of the little fundamental stuff and being in the right spots are heightened when you play a player like that. Another example would probably be like Giannis, or like some of those guys that physically are just bigger. You have to really be on your principles; otherwise, they'll have big nights. He is one of those players where you have to kinda like bring in and understand our rotations and what you are trying to get done defensively." Williams said of this matchup.

Saturday will be far from the final meeting between these two clubs. Not only do the Spurs and Thunder matchup five times this season as a result of this game, but see three of those matchups unfold in the next two weeks.

"Yeah, they have had great start. We haven't seen them yet. So it's a first pass at them, and we'll see where we are at against them. We're not going to overprepare or overdo anything. First time we've seen them, and go out there and play and see where that leaves us. We'll see them a few times here in the next couple weeks," Mark Daigneault said of playing the Spurs and Wembanyama.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will hope to continue their franchise-long winning streak on Saturday pushing it out to 17 straight victories if they can punch their ticket to the NBA Cup Championship.