Victor Wembanyama has missed the last 12 games for the San Antonio Spurs, and the team has stayed afloat, although the expectations have been laid out before he makes his highly anticipated return.
LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Paul George, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Williams, and Kyrie Irving have all missed time with injuries this season, although no one's return from an absence has been as highly anticipated as Victor Wembanyama's.
He has only missed 12 games for the San Antonio Spurs this season, but he was playing like an MVP candidate before being sidelined with a calf injury. The Spurs, to their credit, remained elite without their best player, going an impressive 9-3 without him.
On Saturday, the Spurs will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup semifinals. Wembanyama will make his return for that game, but even with him back in the lineup, the Spurs will need everyone active and playing at their best to even stand a chance. Still, Wembanyama is heading into the game with supreme confidence.
Of course, it helps that his teammates have managed to survive without him, setting him up for success upon his return.
"When you're part of a team like this, now we're starting to be even more successful," he said. "We're starting to win. Every single game is important, and I have a responsibility towards my team to come back as quickly as I can, but also to be healthy. So to not come back too early, it would have been a mistake to come back earlier. So it just happens that I'm coming back on this game in Vegas here, but every single game I was pushing."
Ever since his first missed game, Wembanyama and the Spurs' staff made it clear that they thought he could have returned earlier, although they wanted to take a more conservative, responsible approach.
Hopefully, the delay is worth the payoff.
While Wembanyama has been roaring to get back on the court, Mitch Johnson knows that he won't be his usual elite self, at least not right away.
"He's going to be tired," revealed the head coach. "The excitement, the mental fatigue, he was tired the first time I saw him play live against video guys. He's just so excited to be back out on the court. So obviously, in a game like this, it would be regardless, but I can only expect the excitement for him and want to get out there. So I would suspect an early sub and not his normal minutes."
The Spurs are 11-point underdogs, and with a refreshed and eager Wembanyama, they should be able to compete. However, this game, for Wemby at least, is more about getting back into playing shape than anything else.