SAN ANTONIO — Addressing the media for the first time since a blood clot in his right shoulder ended his All-Star season in February, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama on Sunday asserted his firm belief that he will be ready to rejoin his teammates by the time training camp begins in September.
Wembanyama called the post-All-Star Game discovery of the deep vein thrombosis more blessing than misfortune. He said he was “feeling good” and working hard on his conditioning, while heeding the advice of the team’s conditioning staff to progress slowly.
“I’m not going to expand on that too much, because it all remains to do for me,” Wembanyama said. “But I’m hungry, and I will be ready.”
Asked if the diagnosis required him to adjust expectations for his career, the 21-year-old from Paris showed remarkable equanimity.
“I think it’s all about perspective,” Wembanyama said. “All the attention I got from the incredible people here, incredible at their jobs. From my visits to the hospital and such, I think I got as good (of) care as you can get as a patient. So, looking back, I’m really lucky … But, all of us in that (locker) room, all of us in the league, we do with what we get, we do with what we are blessed with. And I’m still in the 1 percent luckiest people, so I’ve got nothing to complain about, and it is a really slight setback.”
Wembanyama said what his teammates have done without him and fellow All-Star De’Aaron Fox, who missed the rest of the season after hand surgery in March, has heightened his expectations for next season.
“I’ve seen some energy in the court and dedication that has grown throughout the season,” Wembanyama said. “At some point, I even felt like, damn, I wish we played like that when I was there. They do dirty work, they sacrifice, fighting every single game. Of course, we always think about the guys like Keldon (Johnson), Blake (Wesley), who are just machines and give a hundred percent all the time. But the whole team embraces that energy, and I’m willing to show that I’m ready to do that, too, because I’m willing to do the dirty work just as they do.”
Wembanyama averaged 24.3 points and 11 rebounds this season. Though he played only 46 games, he finished the season as the NBA leader in shots blocked, with 176, 28 more than the Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez.
(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)