By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Victor Wembanyama has been medically cleared to return to action and play for the San Antonio Spurs against the Oklahoma City Thunder in T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.
“I’m feeling all right. I’m just a little tired. I just finished running cardio, but right now I’m feeling great. I think we’ve done the right things over this past, I don’t know how long it has been, two weeks, one month. And yeah, I’m feeling great. I’m ready to go,” he shared his excitement in a pregame press conference in Las Vegas on Friday.
The upcoming fixture on the Spurs schedule decides a ticket to the Emirates NBA Cup 2025 Final, and also counts in the 2025-26 NBA Regular Season. Therefore, the prize money for the Cup champions is two wins away.
“Poor Vic needs more money, right?” said Wemby, downplaying the Las Vegas jackpot. “No, I haven’t thought what I’m gonna do with it, but just stacking money hasn’t really been any goal of mine in my life, so it’s not gonna be it, but I don’t know what I’m gonna do with it yet.”
Sidelined for nearly one month, the 21-year-old French center admitted to wanting to return from a left calf strain much sooner.
“It’s a lot of trust that comes into play. Both ways. I know I have the chance to be around the best staff in the world, so I trust them very much, and I have the chance also that they trust me, because I’ve shown that I know my body and I give them good feedback. But it’s true that if it were only me, I would have come back earlier. But, I think It’s more reasonable to do the way to listen to them and do as they said because there was no reason to take inconsiderate risks two days after my injury,” he mentioned.
“I have to trust the process a lot because it wasn’t always painful. It was almost never painful or even uncomfortable, so I had to trust the process. But I don’t think anybody when they’re hurt is as dedicated as I am because I wanna know everything, I wanna see all the images of all the feedback because I wanna make sure nobody’s sleeping on their job,” continued Wembanyama.
In his absence, the team coached by Mitch Johnson went 9-3.
“It’s been hard to watch from my couch, but almost every night they’ve proven to me that I have nothing to worry about. Really, the brand of basketball they’ve been playing just makes me proud because it’s getting closer to the ideal basketball, in my opinion. And everybody has something to eat. Everybody can step up at any time. Everybody can take up responsibilities. Everybody trusts their next teammate. So it’s just beautiful to see,” he said.
“It’ll be me”
Sitting down with ESPN, the Le Chesnay native was asked about the best player in the NBA, mentioning Serbian Nikola Jokic and Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo, along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“I think Jokic is the best offensive player. I don’t think he’s the best player. It’s hard to say. I think it was between Giannis and Shai. When I come back on the court, I think it’ll be me,” he displayed confidence in his unique talents during the interview posted on Friday.
Hartenstein returns too
Besides Wembanyama returning from a stint on the injury list, German Isaiah Hartenstein has been cleared by the Thunder after recovering from a soleus strain in his right calf.
Overall, Serbian Nikola Topic (testicular cancer treatment) is out with Isaiah Joe (left knee contusion) and Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgery recovery) for the Thunder. In contrast, the Spurs are no longer dealing with injuries.