Wemby winded but otherwise ‘felt great’ in opener after layoff

DALLAS — Playing a total of 39.8 minutes in two of San Antonio’s five preseason outings, Victor Wembanyama acknowledged the team’s 120-109 season-opening loss Thursday to the Dallas Mavericks proved “a little hard conditioning-wise.”

Wembanyama played 28 minutes and finished with 17 points on 5-of-18 shooting with 9 rebounds, 1 assist and a game-high-tying 4 turnovers.

“Some moments felt great,” Wembanyama said. “A little hard conditioning-wise at first, of course [as] I expected. But I think we had some good basketball moments and some really bad ones.”

Wembanyama played a role in generating one of San Antonio’s few positive opening-half highlights late in the second quarter, when he pointed his left index finger skyward, signaling for point guard Chris Paul to let it fly.

Paul fed Wembanyama with a lob with 1:47 left in the half for the duo’s first alley-oop together as Spurs.

But fewer than five minutes into the contest, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had to sub out a clearly gassed Wembanyama, who had just committed his second turnover of the night. Popovich predicted earlier in the week that Wembanyama would exhibit signs of rust after sitting out most of the preseason to rest.

Even the Frenchman admitted Thursday’s season opener would be new territory, considering his relative inactivity throughout the preseason due to playing late into the summer for Team France at the Olympics.

“I didn’t see that he was in or out of shape,” Popovich said after the game.

Wembanyama shot 2-of-8 in the first half and committed all his turnovers over that span as the Mavericks blasted San Antonio 13-2 in second-chance scoring yet trailed at intermission 49-47. The 20-year-old continued to struggle into the second half, connecting on 3 of 10 shots with five rebounds.

“None of us really have played four games since [the] middle of the summer for me,” Wembanyama said. “It’s a struggle. Every player in the NBA goes through it. Conditioning is not an excuse [for missed shots]. I’ll have different weapons we need to know when to use. So, for the missed shots, it’s more getting used to taking shots, getting used to again taking shots in a game.”

Wembanyama expects to work himself back into shape in “one or two games,” he said.

San Antonio hosts Houston on Saturday at the Frost Bank Center.

“Even through preseason, Vic missed a game or two,” Paul said. “I missed a game or two. We had guys in and out. But man, I love the fight we showed. There are no moral victories, but we played against a team that went to the Finals. So, there’s a continuity they have. For me, not knowing what to expect in the preseason is one thing. The regular season is another thing. But I’m honestly so excited about the spurts that I’ve seen and what I know our team is capable of.”