After missing 12 games, the San Antonio Spurs cautiously used Victor Wembanyama. Despite being under minute restrictions, the French Center suffered another injury against the New York Knicks. While the 21-year-old downplayed his injury, the worry is not completely over for the Silver and Black faithful.

“His knee is maybe down about there, looks like about maybe 30 to 45 degrees of hyperextension,” MD in sports and orthopedic medicine, Brian Sutterer, said on his YouTube channel. “So overall, I’m a little bit more on the pessimistic side than I was compared with Nikola Jokic’s injury.”

The pessimistic nature stems from two different scenarios at play. Victor Wembanyama was trying to grab a rebound while the Knicks’ Jordan Clarkson and Karl-Anthony Towns double-teamed him from either side. Ultimately, the French center, while landing first, stepped on KAT’s foot and later landed wrong as his foot slipped forward, hyperextending his left knee. That’s why Sutterer stated that the injury to Wemby could be serious.

“He’s high up in the air. He’s coming down. And so, as he’s high up here, he’s got all this potential energy. That energy has to be conserved as he comes down. So, there’s going to be more potential for force to be generated up through his limbs as opposed to just when you’re hit and the knee gets slightly bumped, but you’re not moving.”

For Nikola Jokic, he had his foot and body stable on the ground when teammate Spencer Jones stepped on Jokic’s left foot while backtracking on defense. The Serb’s knees buckled, and he limped off the court. Later, the reports confirmed a bone bruise and not any ligament tear, as the Nuggets center is to miss 4 weeks of action. That’s why the two actions could have different injury timelines.

“But the amount of hyperextension we see, the fact that he was jumping, coming down, are two negatives for the severity of an injury like this that we did not see with Jokic,” said Sutterer.

Victor Wembanyama’s ‘Alien’ built could save him from a potential season-ending injury

Despite being a 7-foot-4 center, Wemby always had fluidity to his game like any undersized guard. During the off-season, he took another step towards agility by training at Shaolin Temple in China, immersing himself in kung fu and martial arts, as part of his transformative journey. After the game against the Knicks, the French center did not appear to be suffering from the injury.

“I’m feeling good, just sore,” Wembanyama told Tom Orsborn of San Antonio Express-News. “I’m confident. I was close to coming back into the game. They had to hold me back… It was just a hyperextension. It should be a minimal.” Even Sutterer concluded in his video even when the degree to which Wemby’s leg was bent could lead to ligament tear, his different build might ultimately help him.

“The other thing we don’t always know about these players is how much general hypermobility they have, said Sutterer. “Somebody like Wembanyama could have more loose, flexible, baseline, mobile joints, and that’s going to be good for him here because it allows for more excessive movement. That is one factor that could I think help him. He seems to be a very mobile athlete.”

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Even the head coach appeared unsure about his star’s injury. Further medical tests could determine the full extent of the injury. But there are a lot of positives for the Spurs faithful. Wemby was able to walk back to the bench and support his teammates, and he didn’t feel major discomfort post-game.