Chris Nowinski ducked out during a break of a high-level meeting with NFL players and executives so he could talk about Victor Wembanyama.
The night before, the founding CEO of the Concussion & CTE Foundation saw the7-foot-4 San Antonio center’s chin slam into the hardwoodin Game 2 of the Western Conference first round. Wembanyama left the game and did not return.
“It was an ugly concussion,” Nowinski said of Wembanyama’s injury. “It was a tough fall. His head bounced off the court aggressively.”
Nowinski was working with the NFL Players Association at the annual Mackey-White Health and Safety meetings. He noted that an NBA players union rep was in attendance as well.
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As a neuroscientist who has been a leading advocate for brain safety, Nowinski was pleased to see one thing: Wembanyama got up and left straight to the locker room. There have been countless times that Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and WWE wrestler, has seen players try to force their way back onto the floor against better judgment or medical advice. Wembanyama had the instinct to go in the back and get checked out by docs. He was soon ruled out of the game.
Though Wembanyama made the right call to go straight to the back room, there were worrisome signs of neurological impairment.
“The first thing is, he was slow to get up,” Nowinski said. “It was hard to tell if he was unconscious or not. There was a brief period of time he didn’t move, but he was clearly not feeling right. And I noticed he lost his balance when he first moved, which is another sign of a concussion, and a suggestion that this was a pretty serious injury.”
The question on everyone’s mind should be about the well-being of the superstar 22-year-old. For many NBA fans, they simply want to know when he’ll be back on the floor. In time for Game 3 on Friday? At all in the series? The Spurs are 1-1 in the series against the Portland Trail Blazers with Wembanyama’s status in the air. San Antonio did win the season-series against Portland without Wemby in uniform in any of the three games.
