Wembanyama Has To Play 20 Minutes To Be Award Eligible

Twenty minutes. That is all that stands between Victor Wembanyama and the hardware he could earn in what has been an impressive third season. But as the clock winds down on the 2025-26 campaign, a massive question looms over San Antonio, Texas: Will the Spurs risk their generational centerpiece just to satisfy a league mandate?

With just three games remaining on the schedule, the Spurs are basically locked into the second seed in the Western Conference. Scheduled to close out the season against Portland on Wednesday, Dallas on Friday, and Denver on Sunday, Wemby and the Spurs find themselves in a bit of a bind, at least in today’s NBA. A contender for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and All-NBA honors, Wemby needs more minutes than any other stat to help in his case. 

After playing just sixteen minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night, leaving the game with a rib contusion, the Spurs management and coaching staff find themselves playing a game of roulette to close out the season. Having played 63 regular-season games (plus the NBA Cup Final, which counts towards qualification requirements), Wembanyama needs to play in one of the three remaining games for at least a full twenty minutes. While the league does allot for two games in which a player can play for 15-20 minutes and still qualify, Wembanyama has already met that quota. 

Currently sitting 60-19, as the main piece of the Spurs success story this season, a team that was expected to contend for anywhere between a 6-10 seed after finishing 34-48 last season, the Spurs obviously want to protect their star as much as possible heading into the postseason as legitimate title contenders. Expect Mitch Johnson to proceed with extreme caution, playing Wembanyama as close to the required 20-minute mark as possible, just enough to check the box and allow him the opportunity to contend for a piece of hardware to truly signify his place among today’s elite players.