The first thing I thought when I saw the Victor Wembanyama news — well, the first thing after the string of unprintable expletives — was, “Please, God, don’t let it be like Chris Bosh.” A decade ago,

At 23-29, the Spurs occupy just the No. 12 seed in a crowded Western Conference. They are a scant 3.5 games behind the No. 10-seeded Golden State Warriors (28-27), but without their best player, they seem doomed now to miss the play-in tournament entirely and head straight for the lottery.

The Spurs are signaling optimism, with a team source telling The Athletic that Wembanyama is expected to be fully healthy and ready at the start of training camp in October. Per the team source, Wembanyama had been experiencing low energy in recent weeks, which initially caused concern.