Chuck’s Global Stars forward Victor Wembanyama (1) of the San Antonio Spurs warms up during the NBA All Star-Practice at Oracle Arena.

Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

The NBA was rocked by distressing news on Thursday when the San Antonio Spurs announced that star Victor Wembanyama was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder and will likely miss the rest of the season.

The Spurs discovered the condition when Wembanyama returned to San Antonio following the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday.

The Spurs center reportedly showed signs of “low energy” prior to the game that persisted into this week, leading the team to run medical tests that revealed the deep vein thrombosis, which is essentially a blood clot.

The Spurs are optimistic that Wembanyama will return to full health by the start of next season, and ESPN’s injury analyst Stephania Bell corroborated that timeline on Thursday night.

Bell also gave her expert opinion on how the 21-year-old would fare after recovering from his condition:

“We don’t know the specifics of Wemby’s case,” Bell said. “But in these acute situations with athletes, given the proper treatment we do know that return to pre-injury level of performance is very typical and expected as an outcome here.

“We’ll wait to see what the further details are, but again, acute treatment, recognizing it promptly and efficiently, that speaks to a very good prognosis for a return for him without future complications if it is indeed an isolated incident.”

For fans worried that Wembanyama’s situation could turn into that of Chris Bosh, who was forced to retire early due to recurring blood clots, Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News shared similar good news on that front.

Finger relayed on Thursday that the Spurs aren’t worried about the star’s long-term health and that it “isn’t as serious as the Chris Bosh blood clot issue.”

Wembanyama, who just came off his first career NBA All-Star Game appearance, was putting together a stellar second year in the NBA with a league-leading 3.8 blocks per game but unfortunately won’t be eligible for the Defensive Player of the Year award due to the 65-game minimum.