Fearful Wembanyama approach would send wrong message to Spurs star

There's been a misunderstanding about San Antonio's medical philosophy that needs correcting. The Athletic's Jared Weiss appeared on The Athletic Daily after the Spurs' win over the Grizzlies last night, and he spoke about Victor Wembanyama's injury situation. He suggested that the staff load manage Wemby more, stating that this has been their way in the past. That's not exactly correct.

"They're gonna have to load manage him more. This calf strain thing is a very obvious sign. They're going to have to give him more nights off... They gotta play it smart, and this is what the Spurs do. They are so cautious." - Jared Weiss

I completely understand this mindset, but I believe it's the wrong way to go about caring for Wemby. Being egregiously tall doesn't make one exempt from regular-schmegular injuries, and as a professional athlete, he's bound to have them. Overreacting to them could be an easy path to aggravating the franchise superstar, and that's something they must also avoid.

The Spurs can't risk angering Wembanyama

Vic has the utmost clarity on what his body type is. He's prepared for a long career by conditioning his body in a way we've never seen before. More than half the time he's held out, he tells everyone that he feels fine when the media asks him about it. There's a balance there because doctors say that there could be an issue beneath the surface that the athlete doesn't feel, and it could lead to reaggravation.

That's a major reason why De'Aaron Fox took so long to return to action following his hamstring injury. He was a driving force for the delay after talking to other players who had gone through similar episodes and felt fine, only to get hurt once again after returning to the floor too early. There's plenty of merit to the overabundance of caution they exert when a new ailment pops up.

They can't let that cascade into outright paranoia. The Spurs are accused of being the "load management" team, but let's really take a look at why they got that label. The NBA schedule was jam-packed and had San Antonio playing their fifth game in four nights, so Coach Pop gave their stars the night off.

What everyone seems to forget is that all members of the Big 3 were getting older and suffering nagging injuries more often. When they got healthier, they played. Tim Duncan played 74 and 77 games in two of his final three seasons at his advanced age of 37 and 38 years old. Kawhi Leonard had to be load-managed because he had degenerative knees.

Generally, if guys are healthy, they play, and nobody wants to be on the court more than Victor. If it gets to a point when he's being held out too much when he knows he can hoop, that can wear on a young star.

Too many have been afraid of Wemby wanting to leave because the team wasn't getting better fast enough. Those fears were also unreasonable. If there's anything that would cause Vic to start questioning his future with the organization, it would be losing faith in the staff because they won't let him do what he loves to do most in this world. Play basketball.