![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775895609_952_wright_michael.png&h=80&w=80&scale=crop.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Michael C. WrightApr 11, 2026, 12:40 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Joined ESPN in 2010 Multiple Authors<\/p>\n SAN ANTONIO — Victor Wembanyama<\/a> reached the 65-game threshold for postseason awards eligibility on Friday with a 40-point outing that included 13 rebounds, five assists and two blocks in a 139-120 win<\/a> over the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I’m sure he’ll be sore tomorrow, but he made it out good,” Spurs<\/a> coach Mitch Johnson said.<\/p>\n Returning from a one-game absence after bruising a left rib Monday against Philadelphia, Wembanyama produced his fifth game this season with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds to tie Hall of Famer David Robinson (1993-94) for the most such games in a season in Spurs history. Wembanyama played 26 minutes to help San Antonio improve to 24-3 since the All-Star break.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks Wembanyama grimaced in pain at times and placed a hand on his injured rib, but none of that affected his performance. In the first quarter alone, Wembanyama reeled off 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five rebounds and a block.<\/p>\n “I tried to protect [the injured rib] as much as possible while still being respectful of the game,” Wembanyama said. “But it was OK. It didn’t bother me that much, just a few times where it was a specific moment or specific hit where it was painful.”<\/p>\n The favorite to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Wembanyama expressed relief about reaching the 65-game threshold, calling it “a box that’s [been] checked” while also displaying empathy for players such as Cade Cunningham<\/a>, Anthony Edwards<\/a> and Luka Doncic<\/a> who are ineligible for postseason awards because they haven’t played in enough games (Doncic is expected to appeal) due to injuries.<\/p>\n The Frenchman then quickly turned the tables on the reporters in the room.<\/p>\n “Let me ask you a question,” Wembanyama said. “What percentage of the season do you think should be the [threshold]?”<\/p>\n Reporters tossed out varying answers from 75% of the season to 80%, before one media member suggested that no threshold for games should exist because the number of games played doesn’t necessarily measure a player’s impact.<\/p>\n “I think that’s a good way to put it,” Wembanyama said. “Because a guy that plays 50 games, 35 minutes a game, that’s 50 times 35. That’s 1,750 [minutes], right? And if a guy plays 75 games at 20 minutes, it’s 1,500 [minutes].”<\/p>\n The 22-year-old calculated the math in his head just as quickly as he spoke.<\/p>\n “It’s a good view in my opinion to not have a limit,” he said. “It’s one opinion. Seventy-five percent of the games, in my opinion, would be a logical thing. That would be 61.5 games, right? So, 62 games? There’s some interesting questions. I don’t think there’s going to be an exception made for this year. I think it would be somewhat unfair. But we’ll see how it turns out.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael C. WrightApr 11, 2026, 12:40 PM CloseJoined ESPN in 2010 Previously covered Bears for ESPN.com Played college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-599673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPreviously covered Bears for ESPN.com
\nPlayed college football at West Texas A&M<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775895609_249_r1616177_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n