Victor Wembanyama's biggest playoff adjustment will actually benefit the Spurs

For the Spurs' season to reach its full potential, Victor Wembanyama will need to play more than 29 minutes per game in the playoffs. A lot more. It's no secret why the Spurs have been so conservative with Wemby's playing time — he's played over 35 minutes three times since December 13th — as they are trying to protect their 22 year-old franchise cornerstone from serious injury. They also haven't needed him to be a minutes workhorse, evidenced by a 57-18 record.

But in the postseason, there's no use in bringing Wemby along slowly, because if he's not getting major minutes with the season on the line, then what were the Spurs saving him for in the first place?

Expect Wemby to near 40 minutes most nights — except in blowouts, which Spurs fans obviously hope they watch plenty of in the postseason (but shouldn't hold their breath). Some fans might be hesitant to embrace Wemby's incoming minutes increase due to injury concerns, which is understandable. In the weeks leading up to his injury, he was playing considerably more minutes every night, and it's tough to discern whether there's any correlation or just coincidence.

But I am certainly not ready to place the "injury-prone" tag on the Spurs' superstar yet, and it's far more likely that more Wemby is simply a really good thing for the Spurs in the playoffs. It's often helpful for a team when their best player plays more. Is that good analysis?

It feels weird to ask because of how dominant Wemby is in his 29 minutes per night, but are we sure we've seen the best version of the Wemby-led Spurs? I know five minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time, but it's an eternity in basketball world, and pretty much every other superstar in the league is playing at least five more minutes per game than Wemby. There's nothing to suggest that more Wemby would mean worse Spurs. Quite the opposite!

Victor Wembanyama is about to play more minutes than he ever has

While I am not concerned about Wemby's minutes increase from an injury perspective, I will admit that an extra 10ish minutes per game (which is what we might see from him later this month and hopefully into June) will wear on anyone's body, and could be extra taxing for a player who contibutes so much on both ends of the court.

One of the big tests of this postseason for Wembanyama and the Spurs is seeing how dominant he can be when the Spurs are in nightly battles against elite teams and he isn't afforded the extra rest time that he often gets when the Spurs start blowing teams out.

Again, no reason to worry, but I am at least curious to see how the body of the Spurs' centerpiece holds up when fewer fouls are called, the game tightens up, and the Spurs' starters play 40-plus minutes more often than they're playing sub-30.