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If the NBA were to do its own 4 Nations tournament, would it feature the USA, Canada, France and Australia? Should the NBA go with continents instead? Did we just somehow reinvent Olympic basketball? Let’s dive into this next week.
Bad News
Wemby is out for the rest of the season
Yesterday, I wrote that one of the storylines I was watching in the final stretch of the regular season was how Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama would finish his second year in the NBA. Unfortunately, that got answered swiftly and severely. The Spurs announced yesterday morning that Wembanyama is out for the remainder of the season with a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. I’m sure we all have a lot of questions, so let’s try to answer some:
What is a deep vein thrombosis? How serious is it? Have you heard of blood clots? It’s a blood clot. According to Dr. Geoffrey Barnes — an expert from University of Michigan Health who spoke to our Joe Vardon — upper-arm clots are common among athletes who put repetitive stress on the area, like basketball players, pitchers, weightlifters and swimmers. The condition typically would just be treated with medication unless there is a structural issue that requires surgery, he said. Barnes also noted that the taller you are, the more likely you are to have blood clots.
So, are there other players who have had this? The three most recent names that come to mind are Brandon Ingram, Ausar Thompson and Chris Bosh. Let’s start with the scary example from Bosh.
The two-time champion with the Heat had a blood clot in his lungs in February 2015 and missed the rest of the 2014-15 season. He came back in 2015-16 but was ultimately forced to retire due to a clot in his leg in 2016. He had to take blood thinners, and that becomes dangerous in athletics if you get a cut and start bleeding.
The two more positive cases are Ingram and Thompson. Ingram was diagnosed with DVT in his shoulder in the 2018-19 season. Injury analyst Jeff Stotts wrote a helpful explainer on Ingram’s situation in 2019. He broke down all of the potential complications and results of Ingram’s DVT situation. Ingram ended up having surgery to remove the clot and missed the final 19 games of the season. He was back to start the following season.
Thompson’s DVT was confirmed during his rookie campaign and led to him missing the final 19 games of the 2023-24 season. He sat out the first 18 games of this season but has been back and healthy since returning in late November.
Is there upside in Wemby’s case? Sam Amick wrote about the news and did glean some hope from the Spurs’ side of it.
“The Spurs are signaling optimism, with a team source telling The Athletic that Wembanyama is expected to be fully healthy and ready at the start of training camp in October. Per the team source, Wembanyama had been experiencing low energy in recent weeks, which initially caused concern.”
If this is just a blip in Wembanyama’s career, it’s still a scary blip — but a blip nonetheless. What we’ve already seen from him has been historic and mind-bending in myriad ways. Even if he just stays this good for the rest of his career, he’s already on pace to be a Hall of Famer. He’s just the third player to average at least 24 points and 11 rebounds by age 21. The others? Karl-Anthony Towns and Shaquille O’Neal. Mind you, Wemby also averaged nearly four blocks in his second NBA season!
As long as he’s healthy, that’s all that matters. But it would be tremendous to see the 21-year-old phenom’s career resume next season and not have any big medical events to have to worry about again.
The Last 24
Milwaukee loses key piece for stretch run
🏀 25-game suspension. Bucks forward Bobby Portis is basically out for the rest of the regular season after testing positive for Tramadol.
🩼 Mavs star still missing. That adductor strain for Anthony Davis has him out for at least two more weeks. That’s a minimum of seven games.
📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Knicks (37-18) at Cavaliers (45-10), 7 p.m. ET on ESPN or Fubo (try for free). This is a big-time measuring stick for New York on a back-to-back.
📺 Same goes for this one! Timberwolves (31-25) at Rockets (34-21), 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN or Fubo (try for free). No. 7 Minnesota is only 3.5 games behind Houston for fourth in the West.
📺 A late-game gem. Warriors (28-27) at Kings (28-27), 10 p.m. ET on League Pass. Both of these teams are fighting to stay in the Play-In Tournament and possibly more.
Accolades Check-In
Wemby news opens up the DPOY race
Yesterday, I wrote an article for a weekly Awards Watch — something to track the six major individual races for the rest of the season. And, while the MVP race between Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is definitely the most compelling, I was surprised by the betting odds of the Defensive Player of the Year race. Entering yesterday, BetMGM had Wembanyama as the overwhelming betting favorite for DPOY.
Wemby’s odds were -2500 to win the award. And we had Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley and Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. with the next-best odds. They clocked in at +3000 to win the award. Just to put that into context:
- If you bet $10 on Mobley or Jackson to win the award and they won, you’d win $300!
- With those Wemby odds, you’d have to bet $250 to win $10 if he took home the award.
All of that changes with Wemby being out for the season. He won’t hit the 65-game requirement to qualify, as his season ends after 46 games played. That means the odds needed an update.
Jackson has now become the favorite with -120 odds to win his second DPOY award. But he’s not the heavy favorite, since Mobley is right behind him at -115. That’s a stark contrast to the uphill battle they appeared to have. With that being said, I’ll remind you that those odds are sometimes influenced by the public money being wagered, and there is still a lot of season left.
Dyson Daniels (+1000) and Lu Dort (+1400) also get thrown into more of the mix now.
About Last Night
LeBron defeated a bunch of youngsters
Look at how funny that graphic is. That’s what LeBron James was up against last night as the Lakers went to Portland to face the Trail Blazers. Three of the players on the opposing roster weren’t even born when he made his NBA debut. Shaedon Sharpe was five months old, and Jabari Walker was the veteran of this group, being over a year old. Sometimes, I think we take for granted how long LeBron has been doing this professionally, even though we constantly talk about how long LeBron has been doing this professionally.
A night after being embarrassed in a home loss to the Hornets, the Lakers barely got back on track against the Trail Blazers. But they took the game with a 110-102 victory. LeBron became the first player in NBA history to have multiple 40-point games in his 40s. He scored 40 points on 14-of-24 shooting from the field. He also had 11 turnovers! The Lakers didn’t have Luka Dončić, but it didn’t matter.
Pacers 127 (31-23), Grizzlies 113 (36-19): Indiana used a 50-26 second quarter to take control of this game, but Memphis cut this to a two-possession game in the third period. Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points and nine assists. Myles Turner added 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks. The Pacers have won 15 of their last 20 games.
Celtics 124 (40-16), 76ers 104 (20-35): Payton Pritchard hit eight 3-pointers off the bench to lead Boston with 28 points in this easy victory over Philly. The Sixers’ big three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George each played. They all logged at least 27 minutes and combined for 48 points. Punt the season.
Magic 114 (28-29), Hawks 108 (26-30): We had a good ole fashioned Southeast Division duel last night with Paolo Banchero dropping 36-10-5 to best Trae Young’s 38-point performance. This brought Orlando to within two games of sixth in the East, and Atlanta is a half-game out of eighth.
Knicks 113 (37-18), Bulls 111 (22-34) in OT: Towns scored 20 of his 32 points in the third quarter and finished the game with 18 boards. New York was actually lucky this thing went to overtime.
Bucks 116 (30-24), Clippers 110 (31-24): Damian Lillard shook off a bad night to score 12 of his 15 in a 36-21 final frame for Milwaukee to snatch this victory. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 10 of his 23 points in the fourth. LA is only a half-game ahead of Minnesota for sixth out West.
Spurs 120 (24-29), Suns 109 (26-29): No Wemby? No problem. A broken Phoenix team was the cure for San Antonio in this one. De’Aaron Fox had 26 points to lead seven different Spurs in double figures, including all four players off the bench. They controlled this entire game.
Nuggets 129 (37-19), Hornets 115 (14-40): Your Jokić locker combination stat line of the night was a modest 29 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists. Jamal Murray led Denver with 34 points.
Cavaliers 110 (45-10), Nets 97 (20-35): Jarrett Allen had 16 points and 20 rebounds, while Cleveland controlled the entire second half to cruise to the victory.
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(Top photo: Brian Babineau / Getty Images )
