NBA Dealt Major Blow With Wemby’s Season-Ending Blood Clot

Victor Wembanyama has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to deep vein thrombosis, a form of a blood clot, in his right shoulder, the Spurs announced Thursday.

The team said the blood clot was discovered when the 21-year-old returned to San Antonio after participating in his first NBA All-Star Game on Sunday. The team told ESPN and The Athletic that they expect Wembanyama will be ready for the 2025–2026 season.

Christopher Yi, a board-certified vascular surgeon at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center spoke to Front Office Sports and said the Spurs’ confidence in the return of Wembanyama likely means treatment and recovery will be similar to that of Brandon Ingram in March 2019, who was also 21 years old at the time.

Ingram was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right arm in March 2019 when he was also 21 years old. He would miss the final 19 games of the season but returned the following year when he was named an All-Star. He has battled other unrelated injuries throughout his career, but signed a three-year, $120 million extension with the Raptors earlier this month.

On top of the typical blood-thinning medication, Dr. Yi said there is a procedure that may be done on Wembanyama that could keep him out. World No. 1 women’s golfer Nelly Korda also had a blood clot in 2022 that kept her out for several months. She reclaimed the top ranking in the sport a year later.

“Brandon Ingram is doing extremely well. Nelly Korda is back to being No. 1 in the world. … That’s what I expect to happen to Victor. He’ll come back to form,” Dr. Yi said.

Dr. Yi told FOS that Wembanyama’s situation is different from that of Chris Bosh, who was found to have blood clots in his legs and lungs in 2015. He briefly returned to action the next season, but in September 2016, Bosh, then 32 years old, and the Heat announced he would no longer play. 

“That’s a completely different scenario. A different beast. … There are different causes and different ways to treat it,” Dr. Yi said about Bosh’s injury.

The NBA’s Future Face

Wembanyama’s injury comes at an inopportune time for the league, which is facing a 5% year-over-year viewership decline and in search of new names to take the mantle from aging stars like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant.

Wembanyama was fourth among Western Conference front-court players in All-Star fan voting with 2.88 million, not too far from James and Durant, and 500,000 more than Stephen Curry. Wembanyama is also fifth in jersey sales this season.

Speaking at a press conference in France last month before the NBA Paris Games, NBA commissioner Adam Silver praised Wembanyama, saying he has “exceeded my expectations.” 

But Silver also said he’s been “cautious” about his perception of top picks and their progression in the NBA in part because some have not met the expectations through “no fault of their own” due to factors such as injuries.