Some of the NBA’s biggest stars are on the cusp on returning from injury, while others are facing multiple weeks on the sideline.
The Spurs are eagerly awaiting Victor Wembanyama’s return, since he hyperextended his left knee on New Year’s Eve against the Knicks.
He will travel with the team for a January 6 match-up vs. the Grizzlies.
“Vic [Wembanyama] is looking really good,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
“I expect him to travel. It’s day to day, and that [game against the Grizzlies] is more than a couple of days away, but it’s going well. We all want him to play. I know he’s chomping at the bit, and we’ll get him out there as soon as we can.”
The league has lost yet another dominant big man for at least a couple of weeks – Alperen Sengun.
Sengun suffered a sprained right ankle in Saturday’s loss to Dallas and is expected to miss around 10 days to two weeks of action.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Derrick Jones Jr. was diagnosed with a Grade 2 right MCL sprain and will be reevaluated in six weeks, Shams Charania says.
“Jones was four games into his return from another MCL sprain in the same knee, an injury that kept him out more than a month. He suffered this latest sprain in Saturday’s loss to the Boston Celtics,” Shams says.
The purple and gold LA team are a little light on starters, since Austin Reaves remains out and Rui Hachimura has been ruled out for the Lakers’ upcoming two-game road trip with a calf injury, which begins Tuesday at New Orleans.
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