[Trending News] Wembanyama's shoulder injury: History of similar conditions, expected recovery time

According to Shams Charania of ESPN, superstar center Victor Wembanyama is set to miss the remainder of the 2024-25 NBA season due to a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. Wembanyama was on track to win the Defensive Player of the Year award and had just made his first-ever All-Star appearance.

Now, the Spurs will be forced to fight for a spot in the Play-In Tournament without their best player and a complete lack of center depth. But all of that is far less important than the long-term health of Wembanyama, as this type of injury is extremely scary and has the potential to drag on for months or even years.

Here is a small history of similar conditions and expected recovery times.

Ausar thompson

Just last year, then-rookie Ausar Thompson had his season ended by a blood-clotting issue at the end of March. However, it was revealed what type of blood clot it was.

There are different types of blood clots, including arterial thrombosis, venous thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism. Wembanyama is dealing with the second of those three, but Thompson’s issue was not revealed.

Recovery time: Thompson was cleared for basketball activities by mid-November, meaning it was a roughly eight-month recovery period for the Detroit Pistons youngster.

Brandon Ingram

In March of 2019, Toronto Raptors star Brandon Ingram, then on the New Orleans Pelicans, was diagnosed with deep venous thrombosis in his right arm—the same issue Wembanyama is dealing with now.

According to Jeff Stotts, the clot that Wembanyama has usually “develops in one of the major veins of the body, usually in the lower extremity.” However, both he and Ingram developed it in their shoulder/arms.

Recovery: Ingram was back on the court by the time the start of the 2019-20 season rolled around, and reports surfaced in July that he was close to returning, meaning that the recovery timeline was somewhere around four to seven months.

Christian Koloko

Los Angeles Lakers center Christian Koloko was waived by the Toronto Raptors last season in the wake of the Pascal Siakam trade, but he was not medically cleared to play by the NBA due to a blood-clotting issue.

There was no indication as to what type of blood clot it was, but it was labeled as “career-threatening” at the time. This was reported in January of 2024.

Recovery: Koloko was finally cleared by the NBA on October 29, 2024, meaning his recovery time was roughly nine months.

Chris Bosh

Perhaps the most infamous example of this injury, former Miami Heat star Chris Bosh suffered a career-ending blood clot diagnosis that was nearly fatal. Bosh was hospitalized in 2015 when he was “diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism, the blood clots that blocked the artery in his lung.”

A pulmonary is the most severe type of blood clot. He was hospitalized in February of 2015 for a weeke after these blood clots were found in his lung.

Bosh was back on the court for the beginning of the 2015-16 season, but when he was pulled from the All-Star Game in 2016, it was revealed that he was dealing with more blood clots, though they were caught earlier this time around before they reached his lungs.

Recovery: Though Bosh returned from his initial issues, the blood clots ended up being a career-ending ailment for the All-Star big man. However, Wembanyama’s issue seems to have been found much earlier than Bosh’s.