SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama suffered a bruised left rib and was ruled out of the second half of the San Antonio Spurs' game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
Wembanyama took an inadvertent elbow to the ribs from Paul George when the Philadelphia forward was attempting to deflect a pass as the 7-foot-4 center was sprinting up court on a fastbreak with 10:49 remaining in the first half. Wembanyama remained on the court for a minute
while George patted him on the backside apologetically.
Wembanyama subbed out of the game 13 seconds later and immediately went into the tunnel leading to the locker room while keeping his arm pressed to his side.
Wembanyama returned with 5:33 remaining in the period, and asked San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson to take him out with 44 seconds remaining in the first half. He again went into the tunnel leading to the locker room while holding his arm to his side and was ruled out at the start the second half.
Wembanyama had 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks while playing 15:40 in the first half.
Wembanyama has made it clear that he wants to win the league's MVP award this season. The NBA allows a maximum of two games in which a player logs between 15 and 19.59 minutes to count toward the league-required minimum of 65 games played for award eligibility.
Wembanyama has played 63 games this season, including the NBA Cup Final.
San Antonio (59-19) is closing its regular season with a four-game homestand, starting with Philadelphia.
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