Victor Wembanyama expected to miss remainder of NBA season after shock blood clot discovery

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 regular season after a horror discovery.

Victor Wembanyama is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 regular season with a blood clot in his right shoulder.

The 7-foot-3 Spurs centre, who was the clear favourite to win Defensive Player of the Year, is suffering from deep vein thrombosis (DVT), the team announced.

DVT in the shoulder occurs when a clot forms in the deep veins of the upper arm, shoulder or neck.

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This is often caused by repetitive movements that compress these veins.

DVT can quickly become very serious because blood clots can travel to the lungs. This is called a pulmonary embolism.

And a pulmonary embolism is life-threatening and needs treatment straight away.

San Antonio does not expect the injury to last into next season, as they believe it is an “isolated incident” and that he will fully recover from by the fall.

The Spurs hope that there is no spread of the clot as he prepares for off-season workouts.

It is unclear if he will be joined by his coach, Gregg Popovich, next season, who had a stroke and has not returned to their bench in a bizarre season for the Spurs, the New York Post reports.

Victor Wembanyama is out for the season. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

Wembanyama played in 46 games for the Spurs this season and will not be eligible for awards, as anyone winning awards needs to play a minimum of 65 games.

Wembanyama, 21, was averaging 24.3 points and 11 rebounds per game in 33.2 minutes for the 23-29 Spurs.

San Antonio, who is the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference, will likely fall way out of favour despite being 3.5 games out of a playoff spot.

The Spurs currently have the 10th-best lottery odds in the NBA, although they could fall further now without their best player.

The 2025 NBA Draft is loaded, expected to have Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and Dylan Harper in the top three as the Spurs could now be poised to add one of them to the fold if the lottery balls fall their way.

Victor Wembanyama has been ruled out for the season. (Photo by EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

San Anotonnio has their own first round pick as well as an unprotected Atlanta Hawks pick which is expected to be a lottery pick as well in a strong draft class.

The Spurs recently acquired De’Aaron Fox in a trade with the Kings, which was expected to vault them further up the standings, but this recent development curbs the enthusiasm for San Antonio.

Wembanyama was just recently playing surprisingly hard during All-Star Weekend for Young Stars and “Shaq’s OGs.”

He combined for 13 minutes in those games, scoring 17 points.

This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.

Originally published as Victor Wembanyama expected to miss remainder of NBA season after shock blood clot discovery