{"id":598955,"date":"2026-04-22T04:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598955\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:56:08","slug":"spurs-wembanyama-has-concussion-after-face-first-fall-vs-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598955\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs’ Wembanyama has concussion after face-first fall vs. Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was placed in the NBA\u2019s concussion protocol after tumbling face-first to the court<\/a> in the second quarter of Tuesday night\u2019s playoff loss to Portland.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a concussion. He\u2019s in the protocol,\u201d Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after San Antonio fell 106-103<\/a> to even the Western Conference first-round series at one game apiece. \u201cWe\u2019ll take the proper and appropriate steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any extended absence by Wembanyama would be a massive blow to San Antonio, which finished with the league\u2019s second-best record behind the versatile 7-foot-4 center<\/a> from France.<\/p>\n

Under league guidelines, a player in the concussion protocol must have at least 48 hours of inactivity and recovery and then hit several benchmarks without symptoms before being cleared to play. A player must undergo neurological testing and receive a final clearance from a team doctor in consultation with the league\u2019s concussion protocol director.<\/p>\n

Game 3 is Friday in Portland. It seems improbable that Wembanyama would be cleared by then, but Johnson wouldn\u2019t speculate about his status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protocol is the protocol,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019ll just follow it as everyone else does and plan accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spurs went 12-6 during the regular season without Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all got to step up,\u201d Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. \u201cWe know what Vic brings to the table. We\u2019ve played without him for a couple games this year. It\u2019s going to be next man up. Everybody\u2019s going to have to step up. That\u2019s a huge void to fill. We can\u2019t get bogged down by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama was fouled by Jrue Holiday after he spun around the Trail Blazers point guard in the paint. He was not able to brace himself on the fall, and his jaw hit the court with 8:57 remaining in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama remained on the court for about 30 seconds before rising to a seated position for about a minute and speaking to teammate Stephon Castle. Johnson called timeout to check on Wembanyama, who immediately ran through the tunnel after getting to his feet.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama had five points, four rebounds, one blocked shot and one assist in 12 minutes. Veteran Luke Kornet replaced Wembanyama and started the second half at center, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was scary. I saw the images. It was not good,\u201d Trail Blazers coach Tiago Splitter said of the play where Wembanyama got hurt. \u201cWith him out, Kornet, I think he did a tremendous job. We still have to figure out how to play better when Kornet is on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio is in the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and beat Portland in Game 1<\/a> of the Western Conference first-round series behind 35 points from Wembanyama. Without him, the Spurs blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in the playoffs for the first time since 2003, a span of 76 games.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Wembanyama became the unanimous winner of the NBA\u2019s Defensive Player of the Year award. He averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and a league-best 3.1 blocks this season.<\/p>\n

Vassell said he didn\u2019t have a chance to talk with Wembanyama immediately after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll definitely check in on him. Our prayers are with him,\u201d Vassell said. \u201cWe just want him to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO (AP) \u2014 San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was placed in the NBA\u2019s concussion protocol after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20509,402,99528,69431,6410,58831,132928,355,1063,3831,2232,255599,6406,2116,99,40552,1022,1059,32090],"class_list":{"0":"post-598955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-athlete-injuries","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-devin-vassell","11":"tag-head-injuries","12":"tag-jrue-holiday","13":"tag-luke-kornet","14":"tag-mitch-johnson","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-basketball","17":"tag-or-state-wire","18":"tag-oregon","19":"tag-portland-pilots","20":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","21":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-stephon-castle","24":"tag-texas","25":"tag-tx-state-wire","26":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}