Coming off a 36-point loss at home to the New Orleans Pelicans, the San Antonio Spurs start a three-game road trip against the Milwaukee Bucks, and they’ll be without Victor Wembanyama.
Wembanyama has been the Spurs’ best player in the first 25 games of the season, recording eight straight double-doubles coming into Tuesday’s game.
Fellow power forward Zach Collins will likely take Wembanyama’s place in the starting lineup.
Collins shared his thoughts at the Spurs afternoon shootaround on Wembanyama missing Tuesday night’s game.
“I think Victor’s frustrated he can’t play. To be honest, I can’t speak for him, but you know he’s a competitor, so he wants to be out there, but next guy up, we’re ready for the challenge,” said Collins.
As to how the Spurs will do against the challenge of facing a talented Bucks starting five with all-stars Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Khris Middleton, Collins shared how the Spurs plan to try and stop the Bucks’ firepower.
“They’re a good team. They’ve got their starting five. Everybody can shoot the ball, so you know we want to focus on trying to limit Giannis dominating in the paint, and that will probably result in some kickout threes, so we’re going to have to able to guard both tonight,” said Collins. “For me personally, just want to try and bring energy and be aggressive, try to win the game any way I can.”
The Spurs currently have a record of 4-21 coming into Tuesday’s game against Milwaukee, their worst start to a season in franchise history.
