San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama expects to play this coming season and has been fully cleared after dealing with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder for the past few months, he told the French newspaper L'Equipe in remarks published Monday.
A person familiar with the situation later told The Associated Press that the Spurs have indeed received word that Wembanyama has been cleared to resume play and, barring anything unforeseen, will be able to fully participate in training camp when it opens this fall. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not revealed that detail publicly.
It has been expected that the team anticipated Wembanyama would be able to start this coming season , though there was no official word until now.
"I'm officially cleared to return. - I'll finally be able to play a bit of basketball again," Wembanyama told the French sports daily.
The fact that Wembanyama has been cleared suggests that his type of DVT was provoked, which would rule out a genetic predisposition to a clot returning. The Spurs have not disclosed specifics of Wembanyama's shoulder issue, but there is a type of DVT that appears when a blood vessel in someone's upper arm can be compressed by a rib the top rib is removed in some cases to relieve the compression, if that is the cause or a muscle. Such issues have proven to be treatable in the past.