AUSTIN, Texas — As expected, Victor Wembanyama has a long road ahead.

After being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, the 21-year-old San Antonio Spurs star will be sidelined for the remainder of the regular season as he begins his recovery process, though the list of concerns grew beyond just Wembanyama on Saturday.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the team is also expecting to be without Gregg Popovich for the remainder of the season after he suffered a mild stroke on Nov. 2. The announcement coincides with Wembanyama’s injury as San Antonio begins to brace for life without both.

“It starts with how he’s doing right now,” Charania said. “From what I’m told, he is emotionally doing well. He and the Spurs right now are working through treatment options on how to move forward here with that blood clot in his right shoulder.”

“Damn. Spurs really tanking for Cooper Flagg 😭,” said one fan on X.

“All this pain just for you guys to go on another Tim duncan run with Wemby. I wouldn’t worry to much if i was a Spurs fan,” said another fan on X.

“Prayers up for a speedy recovery,” said a concerned Clippers fan.

Wembanyama was on pace to be the NBA’s Defensive Player of the year with a league-leading 3.8 blocks and 1.1 steals per game in 46 appearances. Unfortunately, he’ll now be ineligible for any awards after falling short of the league-mandated 65-game threshold.

Wembanyama and the Spurs are beginning to look at treatment options regarding his blood clot, but the team is optimistic that the incident is isolated and won’t be cause for long-term health concerns.

As such, the rest of San Antonio’s roster, under the direction of acting coach Mitch Johnson, are prepared to carry on; if not for themselves, for their teammate. And their coach.

“We want to continue to grow,” Johnson explained. “Can’t push a pause button because not everybody is available. If you did that in this league, you’d never have any progress.”

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