Bold start: A year of recovery and a fresh homecoming proves Victor Wembanyama is redefining what’s possible in the NBA. But here’s where it gets controversial: can a 22-year-old with a rare shoulder condition truly transform an entire franchise in one season? Read on to see how that question plays out in Austin.
Full-circle moment for Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama in Austin
Center Victor Wembanyama wore his warmup shirt as the San Antonio Spurs faced the Sacramento Kings at Moody Center on Saturday, February 22.
Exactly 367 days earlier, on February 20, 2025, the Spurs’ top rookie and one of basketball’s most recognizable stars received a crushing update: his season was over. After a standout first All-Star appearance, Wembanyama was diagnosed with a rare blood clot in his right shoulder during a medical evaluation on his return to San Antonio.
That season-ending news arrived just before the Spurs’ first of two Moody Center games in the 2025 schedule. The injury cast a shadow over what had otherwise been a promising second season for the prodigy, who played only 46 games as San Antonio struggled near the bottom of the Western Conference.
“I remember the All-Star Game last year was the worst I had ever felt on a basketball court in my life,” Wembanyama later recalled. “I had maybe 5% blood flow in my right arm. I’m feeling much better now, but honestly I think it doesn’t fully compare to what I experienced then. My diagnosis explains a lot of how I felt back then.”
Fast-forward just over a year, and Wembanyama and the Spurs look like a different team entirely, especially when they’re in Austin. As Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson put it, “He’s directly affecting the game or indirectly with his gravity. It sets the table for everybody else. And it can be hard at times… I still can’t imagine a 22-year-old with so many gifts and weapons to just trust that being sharp fundamentally still leads to greatness.”
In the second Moody Center matchup, Wembanyama delivered a performance that underscored his impact. He led San Antonio in points, rebounds, assists, and blocks with a 28-point, 15-rebound, 6-assist, 4-block line in a dominant 139-122 victory over Sacramento. It was the kind of output that once felt unlikely under the shadow of last year’s health setback.
He exited the game with a little over five minutes to play, the Spurs ahead by 26, and the Moody Center crowd rose to applaud their rising star.
“I think that was an above-average night for us and for me, but it wasn’t amazing either,” Wembanyama said. “My goal is to make that the standard.”
San Antonio now holds a comfortable seven-game cushion for the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed and sits two-and-a-half games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the top seed—an improbable climb given where they began last year.
Teammates and fans alike notice his influence. Spurs guard Stephon Castle summed it up simply: “He doesn’t care whether we’re playing pickup or one-on-one; he’s going to play hard to win.”
Even as San Antonio wears its “City Edition” jerseys—classically bold with the city’s name emblazoned on the front—the Austin crowd’s warm reception reminded everyone of how close-to-home the Spurs felt in the midst of Rodeo Roadtrip season. The annual road trip is a brutal stretch, filling the Frost Bank Center with rodeo activity as the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo takes over.
“Being close to home and having our fans here is great,” Wembanyama said. “It’s a nice extension of the break, because we know we’ll be on the road for the next several weeks.”
While this friendly atmosphere won’t last through the month, the Spurs have kicked off their mid-season road trip with momentum, starting 4-0 on the trip and sweeping Moody Center games for the first time in franchise history.
Would you have predicted this dramatic turnaround from last year’s setback? How do you think Wembanyama’s continued growth will shape the Spurs’ playoff chances and their style of play this season?
