Spurs’ Gregg Popovich hints Victor Wembanyama may miss final showdown vs. Chet Holmgren

The race, for all intents and purposes, is over.

The top pick in this past summer’s draft essentially sealed it when he outplayed the 2022 second overall pick in a Spurs win on Feb. 29, blocking a Holmgren shot in the closing moments of a thrilling game. That night, Wembanyama had more points, rebounds, blocks, assists and steals than his 7-foot counterpart in one fewer minute of playing time.

In an almost symbolic presentation, four nights later the 20-year-old phenom received his second consecutive Western Conference Rookie of the Month honor. He has since won a third.

For the season, there is no comparison when putting the two young stars’ statistics next to each other.

Wembanyama: 21.1 points per game, 10.7 rebounds per game, 3.6 blocks per game, 3.8 assists per game, 1.3 steals per game

Holmgren: 16.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 2.5 apg, 0.6 spg

Wemby’s 3.6 blocks per contest lead the league. And while the Gonzaga alum has put together some impressive combinations of numbers on an elite team, the French marvel continues to do just that: marvels fans with seemingly weekly stat lines that have never been witnessed before or haven’t been seen in quite some time.

In fact, Wembanyama has been even better in April.

His averages have jumped to 24.3 points, 15.0 rebounds, 6.3 blocks and 7.7 assists per game. He’s shooting 37% from three-point range and has led the shorthanded Spurs to two wins in their four games, with the losses coming at the defending champion Denver Nuggets and in overtime to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Wemby has flipped the script

It’s getting easier to forget — though perhaps not for Wembanyama — that Holmgren took home the first two Rookie of the Month honors in the West. When the two met for the first time at this level in mid-November, neither played well. They stumbled to a standstill in a Thunder rout, as Holmgren scored nine to Wemby’s eight. Though the Spurs star doubled the Thunder big man in rebounds 14-7 and registered one more block, Holmgren recorded one more assist and steal.

When they met again in late January, about a month after Wemby had sustained and aggravated an ankle injury, Oklahoma City won big again. But that night in San Antonio also helped serve as a turning point in how experts and many fans saw the two. Double and sometimes triple teamed for most of the game, Wembanyama managed more points, rebounds and blocks while getting as many rebounds and assists as Holmgren.

A week later, San Antonio’s leading scorer won his first Rookie of the Month.

It’s fair to say that just about everyone would love to see them go head-to-head one more time this season. It’s also fair to assume we have a pretty good idea of how the matchup may go.