Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Landscape with Figure on Path; Julian Onderdonk; 1908

Victor Wembanyama will miss the remainder of the season after the Spurs medical team discovered a deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder. The expectation is that Wembanyama is not at any further risk thanks to the discovery, and that he’ll make a full recovery by next season.

Blood clots are terrifying — the Chris Bosh revelation is still pretty haunting, even though he ended up just fine — and for a young player to experience one, it’s unsettling. Wembanyama is a miracle of a player, worth every bit of hype he received. He was well on his way to an All-NBA nod, maybe second team, as a second year player. Now he’ll be ineligible for any postseason honors, and the Spurs will likely excuse themselves from the playoff hunt even after the midseason trade for De’Aaron Fox. But so long as Wembanyama returns next season, the Spurs are still on a path for contention and Big Vic is still on the path toward near-immediate greatness.

As a fan, it’s a bummer that we won’t be able to see Wembanyama play for a while. But there’s not a whole lot else to say.

Oh No, Bobby

Bobby Portis has been suspended 25 games for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. The crime: taking an opioid analgesic called tramadol, which was recently added to the list of banned substances. Portis claims he believed he was taking toradol, a more common (and not banned) NSAID. He says he got the tramadol from his assistant, who had a legitimate prescription. If that’s true, that’s very unlucky. It’s worth noting that Portis is not appealing the suspension.

The Bucks have pretty shaky depth. Brook Lopez, Kyle Kuzma and Giannis should soak up most big man minutes without Portis, but when any need to miss time, Taurean Prince is going to need to play up or Doc Rivers is going to have to run out small lineups. Further, Milwaukee was already relying a lot on Kuzma to add some punch to the Bucks’ attack. That is even more the case now.

Portis should be available for the playoffs.

Scores

Celtics 124, Sixers 104 — Philadelphia had all three stars, and the starters still got run off the floor. Womp womp.

Grizzlies 113, Pacers 127 — Indiana passes the first test of its week hosting good West teams (Clippers and Nuggets up next). Memphis has fallen out of the No. 2 spot in the West. It’ll be interesting to see whether they can stabilize and stay in spots No. 2 or 3 the remainder of the season.

Bulls 111, Knicks 113 — New York looked a little shaky in crunch time but got the win. What a defensive stand to close regulation for Mikal Bridges!

Whatever Karl-Anthony Towns did at halftime worked like hell (6 points on 2/15 shooting in the first half, 26 points on 12/15 shooting in the second half and overtime).

Share

Cavaliers 110, Nets 97 — I’m fully on 67-win watch for Cleveland. Yes, it’s arbitrary. But just 13 NBA teams have won 67 games in a season. Nine won the championship. One lost in the Finals (guess which one?) and three lost before the Finals.

Magic 114, Hawks 108 — There is no team in the NBA better suited to win a basketball game while shooting 6/25 from deep. To wit: they went 22/30 in the restricted area. That’s better than league efficiency there and absolutely enormous frequency.

A lot of it was Paolo Banchero.

Clippers 110, Bucks 116 — The Clips won the third 39-23 to take a substantial lead. The Bucks won the fourth 36-21 to get it back. Milwaukee beating a quite good team with Damian Lillard shooting just 2/12 is a good sign.

Hornets 115, Nuggets 129 — Another excellent Jamal Murray game, for those keeping track at home. Hottest team in the NBA.

Suns 109, Spurs 120 — Maybe San Antonio’s play-in hopes aren’t dead yet. Awful loss for the Suns with a healthy rotation. Four straight losses.

Lakers 110, Blazers 102 — No Luka on the back-to-back, so LeBron put together another 40-point game at age 40. L.A. needed it since Portland fought all the way back after going down 18 early.

Schedule

Unrivaled is back in action Friday (7:15 PM ET on TNT) and Saturday (6 PM ET on truTV). Meanwhile, we have 24 NBA games over the three days with multiple national TV showcases, most of which are highly intriguing. All times Eastern.

FRIDAY
Knicks at Cavaliers, 7, ESPN — can’t wait for this
Grizzlies at Magic, 7
Bucks at Wizards, 7
Heat at Raptors, 7:30
Pistons at Spurs, 8:30
Pelicans at Mavericks, 8:30
Timberwolves at Rockets, 9:30, ESPN — yes!
Thunder at Jazz, 9:30
Warriors at Kings, 10 — huge game

SATURDAY
Suns at Bulls, 5
Nets at Sixers, 7:30
Lakers at Nuggets, 8:30, ABC — beat Denver would be A Moment for new L.A.
Rockets at Jazz, 9:30
Hornets at Blazers, 10

SUNDAY
Knicks at Celtics, 1, ABC — gauntlet weekend for the ‘Bockers
Mavericks at Warriors, 3:30, ABC — huge game
Clippers at Pacers, 5
Pistons at Hawks, 6
Wizards at Magic, 6
Suns at Raptors, 6
Heat at Bucks, 6
Spurs at Pelicans, 7
Grizzlies at Cavaliers, 7, ESPN
Thunder at Timberwolves, 9:30, ESPN — interesting test for MIN

Be excellent to each other.