DALLAS (AP) — San Antonio Spurs star center Victor Wembanyama wasn’t in the lineup for Saturday night’s game at Dallas because of a right knee contusion.
Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson said the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama, last year’s unanimous selection as NBA Rookie of the Year, is day to day.
Wembanyama said after the Spurs’ home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night that his leg was “pretty beat up.”
Wembanyama leads the Spurs averaging 22.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. He leads the NBA averaging 3.7 blocks per game after topping the league last season with 3.6.
He had 28 points and 14 rebounds playing 34 minutes on Friday. He scored a career-high 50 points in Wednesday’s win over Washington.
Johnson said “a lot of minutes and a lot of shots” will change without Wembanyama.
“Guys need to step up,” said Johnson, who has coached the Spurs since Gregg Popovich was sidelined Nov. 2 by what the team called a mild stroke. “We don’t need anyone trying to make a whole bunch of plays individually. We need to move the ball, probably play fast and try to continue to maintain our spacing.”
Zach Collins was scheduled to start in Wembanyama’s place.
San Antonio’s next game will be Tuesday at home against Oklahoma City.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
The Associated Press
