Final Wembanyama Game 3 status puts spotlight on Spurs $200 million man

Victor Wembanyama has been ruled out of Game 3 in Portland, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. The newly crowned Defensive Player of the Year will miss a full 48 minutes in his first postseason appearance, and that has to hurt, but San Antonio is well equipped to tread water without the Alien.

Last season, the Silver and Black made a trade with the Sacramento Kings for De'Aaron Fox's services. Games like this are the reason why it wasn't crazy to give the speedy point guard a max contract over the 2025 summer. With so many young players on the roster, the need for a bona fide closer who knows how to navigate tough matchups has been critical to the team's growth this season.

But the time for hypotheticals is over. Fox needs to put his money where his mouth is and live up to his side of the deal.

Fox is more than capable of putting the Spurs' offense on his back

San Antonio has enough depth to help Swipa get the job done offensively. He shouldn't necessarily even have to carry the entire load, but he has to take more than his fair share. The playoffs are the time when stars step into the light. Whether you are or aren't one, you generally get exposed in the postseason when defenses are intensified, and all of the pressure is on you to produce.

During the regular season, Fox put him at his lowest point per game average since his sophomore campaign. But that was by design. Wemby is the frontman in San Antonio, and Stephon Castle was given the reins to initiate the offense. That's not a referendum on D. Fox's talent; it's a credit to his selflessness.

He didn't all of a sudden forget how to play basketball. Just last season, this is a guy who scored 60 points in a 48-minute ball game. When the Spurs needed the ex-Kings franchise guard to take control of the offense in November during Wemby's recovery from a calf strain, he did so effortlessly and kept the team's offense afloat. He'll need to do that again, but turned up a notch or two.

Portland is a scrappy team, but they don't have the talent to compete with San Antonio's roster. But that requires the guys we know to be ballers to live up to the expectations that they built with their play all season. If they do that, they'll be fine, and Wemby will be back in the lineup to help them finish off an inferior team.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow