Major Story Developing in San Antonio: Victor Takes Control from Pop

Last night, Victor Wembanyama overruled Gregg Popovich and subbed himself into the Memphis Grizzlies game despite Pop’s mandated minutes restriction.

I don’t think many quite understand the gravity of this move.

For example, longtime Spurs blog, Pounding the Rock wrote:

Still, it’s hard for any player to sit when his body says he can play, and while Wemby’s little stunt was a risky one from a disciplinary standpoint, it’s good to see that winning mentality in him taking over… (Just don’t encourage defying your coach too much; not everyone has the star status to get away with it.)

No, this wasn’t just some rookie indiscretion that took place at the end of a Grizzlies game.

You have to look beyond the individual occurrence and identify what it symbolizes. This was Victor taking control from Pop.

Victor wanted Gregg Popovich to be a great coach and teacher and he was more than willing for Pop to discipline him and instruct him on how to become an even greater player.

He was fully onboard with letting Pop coach him; he wanted to absorb Pop’s experience, knowledge, and wisdom.

But then Pop threw a curveball to a degree that I don’t think anyone could have predicted: he threw away the season.

By way of any number of things, Pop has been steadily ensuring the Spurs would not succeed.

And he kept pushing and pushing like an absolute madman.

I knew something was going to break because Pop was applying way too much pressure. As in that Whole Foods bag has a max capacity of 4 lbs and you keep putting 10 lb dumbells inside.

Now that the inevitable break has occurred, it’s time for next steps. Again, Spurs ownership must make a decision on Pop’s replacement and how the transition happens.

That decision should have already been made so Victor didn’t have to do this, but you left him with no choice.

There’s more to come on this story. This was the start but I don’t think this will last long. I expect a mostly binary switch from Point A to Point B.

The push for the playoffs resumes on Thursday against the Bucks.