Player The unfortunately low-ceilinged Shaolin monastery of Victor Wembanyama

[Ice009]

I think it comes down to the individual. Everyone is going to respond/recover differently. Boxers, obviously, take constant contact to the head and some get knocked out pretty bad. Some go on to never have any lingering issues at least that we know of unless it isn't publicize. Some do. You can tell when they talk they have something going on.

Oh yeah, you're right. I can tell for sure when some of those guys talk there is some serious issues likely being caused by hits to the head. I don't really follow boxing and the MMA guys I do follow, still seem to talk OK. Nick Diaz (MMA/UFC) is one guy I've heard talk that does not sound too good at all. Then again, I don't know how he sounded in his prime as I only just started watching UFC around 2018. I got into it for a few years and watched nearly every event, but then pretty much became a casual fan these past 3 years.

Man, this sucks. Victor should have just dumped that ball and protected himself.

Maybe I am being too optimistic, but they should be able to win this series without him playing another game. Last night‘s blown lead was shameful. Fox bro that was some BS.

Being optimistic is a good thing. I'm being too pessimistic (that is for sure), but as we've seen to end the season, this team hasn't played many games without Victor the past couple of months and they've looked terrible in those games. If Vic was playing, I'd be super confident. It's a tough blow. Everyone has to get their mind right for these next games. The players have to have 100% confidence to have a chance to win one or more of these games without Vic. You have to adjust quickly. We're all a bit shocked after the game and Victor going out. Hopefully the team and coaching staff can both do it quickly to be able to have a chance to bounce back.

 

[spurs2112]

Oh yeah, you're right. I can tell for sure when some of those guys talk there is some serious issues likely being caused by hits to the head. I don't really follow boxing and the MMA guys I do follow, still seem to talk OK. Nick Diaz (MMA/UFC) is one guy I've heard talk that does not sound too good at all. Then again, I don't know how he sounded in his prime as I only just started watching UFC around 2018. I got into it for a few years and watched nearly every event, but then pretty much became a casual fan these past 3 years.

Man, this sucks. Victor should have just dumped that ball and protected himself.


Being optimistic is a good thing. I'm being too pessimistic (that is for sure), but as we've seen to end the season, this team hasn't played many games without Victor the past couple of months and they've looked terrible in those games. If Vic was playing, I'd be super confident. It's a tough blow. Everyone has to get their mind right for these next games. The players have to have 100% confidence to have a chance to win one or more of these games without Vic. You have to adjust quickly. We're all a bit shocked after the game and Victor going out. Hopefully the team and coaching staff can both do it quickly to be able to have a chance to bounce back.

Yeah it does suck. Sucks too that it happened the game he gets his trophy. But I still think the team has the goods to beat Portland. They'll be alright. Just need to continue trusting each other like they say they do, make their FTs and be smarter down the stretch.

 

[DaSlicer]

This series isn't worth jeopardizing Wemby's health tbh. If there's even a chance he's not 100% even if he passes the concussion protocol don't play him. If the Spurs sans Wemby can't beat the Guests they weren't getting past the Nuggets or Thunder anyway.

I agree with you it's not worth risking his future health but assuming the Spurs would lose with him against the Nuggets or Thunder is just cope in my eyes. The Spurs title teams would have never beaten any of their first round opponents without Duncan. They would have lost to the '99 Garnett Wolves, '03- Stoudemire-Marbury Suns, '05 Melo-Nuggets, '07 Iverson-Melo Nuggets, and even in '14 against Nowitzki-Mavs.

I could go even back to the Shaq Laker title teams that if they didn't have Shaq in round 1 they would have been out of the playoffs. I remember back in '00 they looked bad against a Chris Webber King's team in which the series went the full distance of 5 games which was back when the first round was best of 5. So it goes to show that you usually always need your best player even against first round opponents.

Since your young I don't know if you remember how terrible the Spurs looked in the '03 series against Suns. They were some Spur fans already slitting their wrists back then after the series was tied 2-2 and declaring the Spurs were not contenders. The Spurs needed every bit of Duncan's herculean performances in that series to win and without it they would have been cooked. That's how close it was but after that series was over the Spurs beat every other team with relative ease compared to how they struggled with the Suns. Also in '14 the Spurs looked awful against the Mavs since it went 7 games. Even in that series without Duncan they would have lost in 5 games.

The way I looked at it is that if Victor doesn't comeback for this series and the Spurs lose that they got robbed of contending this year. They had a chance to beat Nuggets, Thunder granted it was no guarantee but there was a chance it could happen. The only thing now to get out of this series is to see how the other young guys perform and who is worth keeping in the future.

 

[spurraider21]

that was a particularly brutal fall

No timetable would surprise me. If he misses the full series that would suck but also be a reasonable timeline. The “shortest possible return time” isn’t always the best barometer to set expectations with.

We still can win the series. It’s just that the margin for error will be a lot lower

 

[Kick-Stand]

I'll have to look it up. I remember Junior Seau (sorry to hear that he's passed). I don't follow the NFL much these past 10-12 years. Didn't even know he killed himself. Was he really struggling because of it before his death?

It has happened over and over with NFL players getting CTE from repeated concussions. From Google's AI:

Dave Duerson (2011): A 4-time Pro Bowl safety who shot himself in the chest, specifically requesting his brain be studied for CTE, which was subsequently confirmed.

Junior Seau (2012): A legendary linebacker who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 43. Studies by the NIH found he had "cellular changes consistent with CTE".

Andre Waters (2006): A former Eagles safety who died by suicide at 44. Researchers found brain damage equivalent to that of a man in his 80s, identifying it as a case of CTE.

Aaron Hernandez (2017): A New England Patriots tight end who died by suicide in prison at 27. Researchers found severe, "stage 3" CTE, which was linked to his cognitive and behavioral issues.

Frank Wycheck (2023): A 3-time Pro Bowl tight end who died at age 52; a 2025 finding confirmed he had CTE, according to.

Kenny McKinley (2010): A Denver Broncos wide receiver who died by suicide at 23, with reports suggesting he suffered from depression related to injuries, per.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

If he is out Friday (Likely) it is a good thing for the team mentally knowing that.. Gotta step it up and take it to them.. With our guard play it should be enough..

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

Wemby is not gonna get CTE come on..

 

[DaSlicer]

Here's a clip of David Robinson getting a concussion back in '98 against Karl Malone. I know people are scared for Victor recovering from this mentally but David was able to recover from his and he's been mentally stable 28 years later after the incident happened. I'm sure Victor will be fine longterm mentally. On a sidenote I looked up how many games David missed with the concussion and it was 3 games.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

Wemby is not gonna get CTE come on..

All this drama and spec and watch he plays Fri and we win..

 

[DaSlicer]

Wemby is not gonna get CTE come on..

Agreed Bird had a few concussions back in the day and he's perfectly fine. I think people are being overly dramatic about it. Football is a different sport then basketball. In football I have read these guys are getting basically mini concussions every time they get hit which leads to long term brain damage.

 

[Kick-Stand]

Wemby is not gonna get CTE come on..

Because the team isn't going to treat him like shit and run him out there when he's not ready and risk him getting another. You don't fuck around with concussions.

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

Agreed Bird had a few concussions back in the day and he's perfectly fine. I think people are being overly dramatic about it. Football is a different sport then basketball. In football I have read these guys are getting basically mini concussions every time they get hit which leads to long term brain damage.

Yes dude. A lot of tackles are like mini car crashes, guys on the line are pounding each other every play. Basketball is not at all the type of concussion-risk sport football is. Shit it’s not even soccer in that regard

 

[DaSlicer]

Yes dude. A lot of tackles are like mini car crashes, guys on the line are pounding each other every play. Basketball is not at all the type of concussion-risk sport football is. Shit it’s not even soccer in that regard

I agree

 

[Ice009]

It has happened over and over with NFL players getting CTE from repeated concussions. From Google's AI:

Dave Duerson (2011): A 4-time Pro Bowl safety who shot himself in the chest, specifically requesting his brain be studied for CTE, which was subsequently confirmed.

Junior Seau (2012): A legendary linebacker who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 43. Studies by the NIH found he had "cellular changes consistent with CTE".

Andre Waters (2006): A former Eagles safety who died by suicide at 44. Researchers found brain damage equivalent to that of a man in his 80s, identifying it as a case of CTE.

Aaron Hernandez (2017): A New England Patriots tight end who died by suicide in prison at 27. Researchers found severe, "stage 3" CTE, which was linked to his cognitive and behavioral issues.

Frank Wycheck (2023): A 3-time Pro Bowl tight end who died at age 52; a 2025 finding confirmed he had CTE, according to.

Kenny McKinley (2010): A Denver Broncos wide receiver who died by suicide at 23, with reports suggesting he suffered from depression related to injuries, per.

Darn, that sucks. Didn't realize a lot of those guys were that young. I didn't know Hernandez had CTE. That would explain the behavioral issues and things like the murder .

 

[Coyote2!]

Wemby is too much of a competitor. Yeah, it's instinct to drop the ball and catch yourself, but Wemby has trained that instinct out of his system. He sacrificed himself long term for what would have been a short term gain on one play. He needs to train self-protection back into himself. Shaq used to say that his stunt training for (awful) movies taught him how to fall "correctly" and had probably saved his career a few times from his hard falls.

Space Jam 3 ASAP!!!!

 

[Mugen]

Even though these are "freak" injuries, he still needs to re-evaluate how he falls and absorbs contact tbh. He should frankly lean on Porky to learn how to properly fall. Obviously not the same since the guy is 7'5" but it's worth re-evaluating going forward.

 

[WFO]

Man, I hate Karl Malone. Triggered.

 

[ace3g]

I know NFL and MMA are different but

My only irrational concern with Wemby in regards to this concussion is the downfall I've seen UFC fighters (after a KO) and NFL players (after a concussion).

They lose their chin and more susceptible to reoccurrence of another concussion.

 

[BatManu20]

 

[Coyote2!]

Glad to see the wider NBA media has its priorities straight. Guy suffers a traumatic brain injury and this fool is juicing his gambling sponsors' bottom lines instead of saying literally anything else.

 

[Mugen]

Wemby is not gonna get CTE come on..

Do you remember any of your early symptoms tbh?