National Basketball Association

Wembanyama returns, but injuries affect marquee games Sunday at Summer League

Published Jul. 9, 2023 12:48 p.m. ET

Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson won’t get a second act in Las Vegas. There’s no Thompson twins show, either.

Injuries have affected what shaped up to be the marquee games Sunday in the NBA Summer League, after two top players were hurt on opening night.

Henderson, the No. 3 pick in the draft, and Amen Thompson, who went right after him to Houston, were hurt in the same game Friday. The Portland Trail Blazers announced that Henderson wouldn’t play Sunday against San Antonio because of a strained right shoulder.

Nor will Amen Thompson go in the preceding game against the Detroit Pistons, who drafted Ausar Thompson with the No. 5 pick. The guards from Overtime Elite became the first brothers to be top-five picks in the same draft.

Henderson’s absence means he won’t match up again against Wembanyama, the No. 1 pick by the Spurs, after their teams played two exhibition games in Las Vegas last fall. Wembanyama scored 37 and 36 points for his French team in the two games, while Henderson had 28 for G League Ignite in the opener before having to leave the second game early after hurting his knee.

Wembanyama wasn’t nearly that sharp in his much-hyped Summer League debut on Friday, shooting just 2-for-13 and scoring nine points. The 7-foot-something forward acknowledged that he was even confused at times in his opener.

Amen Thompson hurt his ankle late in the Rockets’ victory over Portland in the opener and ESPN reported he would be out for the rest of Summer League.

Reporting by The Associated Press.