Two Bigs Cleared for Wembanyama: Opener at Spurs Starts at 0-0

0:04The host: The question sitting in my inbox all morning: who guards Victor Wembanyama tonight when this team went 1-4 in preseason? Regular season starts in two hours, at San Antonio, NBC and Peacock. Answer that one first.

0:18The analyst: Holmgren was cleared yesterday. That's the answer. Hartenstein was cleared October 13, ankle closed. Two bigs for a player who averaged 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds last season. Wembanyama against one big is a problem. Against two who can switch, it's a game.

0:38The host: Cleared yesterday, after a quad issue that sat on the report since October 10. Cleared is not thirty minutes of real basketball.

0:45The analyst: Fair. But the staff cleared Wallace the same afternoon, and Jaylin Williams too. Three names off the list in one day before the opener. That's a team that waited on purpose.

0:56The host: Or a team that had the time. Four rest days before tonight. The Spurs had three. Nobody's tired, so nobody gets that excuse.

1:06The analyst: San Antonio went 62-20 last season. Offensive rating 118.7, defensive rating 110.4, net plus 8.4. Fox 18.6 points a game, Castle 16.7 points and 7.4 assists, Vassell 13.9. Tonight Tobias Harris is out with a left calf, Quaintance out with a right knee. Harris was 13.3 points a night for them. Gone.

1:37The host: Plus 8.4 against our plus 11.1. Mitch Johnson's team. So who decides it on the perimeter?

1:43The analyst: Castle on Gilgeous-Alexander. 7.4 assists means Castle runs their offense, and Shai scored 31.1 a game last season on 38.6 percent from three. If Wallace takes Fox, Shai sees Castle all night. That's the matchup.

2:03The host: Wallace was day-to-day with an undisclosed issue on October 15. Cleared October 19. You're handing him De'Aaron Fox on his first night back?

2:12The analyst: He played 77 games last season. He doesn't miss. And Hoops Rumors reported yesterday that he and the Thunder agreed to a five-year, $139 million extension. Reported, not signed. The club just committed to him. He's playing.

2:29The host: Our report, then. Who's actually out.

2:31The analyst: Oweh, right Achilles, out for the season, return listed July 1, 2027. Topic, back, out, estimated return October 22. Sorber, right knee, out, same date. Everybody else on the roster is cleared.

2:49The host: Topic and Sorber both pointed at October 22, the Nuggets game on ESPN. So tonight is a shorter bench.

2:57The analyst: Which is why the number of the day is a minutes number. Jared McCain: 11 more minutes a night over the last three games with a teammate out. Caruso, 10 more. That's where Daigneault went when Oweh went down.

3:10The host: And if that's just three games? Preseason games.

3:13The analyst: It is just three games. It does not prove McCain has a rotation spot in April. What it shows is where the minutes went this month. He scored 20 against the Pacers on October 13. A 22-year-old does that, he gets the first look tonight.

3:30The host: Caruso at 32 getting 10 more minutes is a different thing. That's $19.6 million on the sheet for a guy who played 18.2 minutes a night last season.

3:39The analyst: 18.2 minutes over 56 games. If the extra 10 hold, that's a cap decision made on the floor. Payroll is $214.8 million, above the first apron, with the tax line at $200.4 million. You don't add anyone. You play who you have.

3:59The host: The last game is why I keep asking. 89-116 at Houston on October 15. Jalen Williams 18, Shai 17, and nothing behind them.

4:08The analyst: Preseason. The last-10 margin on my sheet reads plus 2.0 a game against a season that was plus 11.1. That is a shrink. I'd note it. I would not panic over it: those ten games are mixed with nights nobody kept starters in.

4:26The host: So the one thing that decides tonight?

4:28The analyst: Whether two bigs cleared in the last week hold Wembanyama under his 11.5 rebounds. If Holmgren and Hartenstein split that job, Shai does the rest. Spurs played at a 100.7 pace last season, we played at 100.4. Nobody's slowing anyone down.

4:44The host: Tip is tonight in San Antonio, NBC and Peacock. Then home on October 22, Nuggets on ESPN, then the Clippers October 25 and the Suns October 26.

4:56The analyst: With Topic and Sorber scheduled back for the second of those.

5:00The host: Watch Holmgren's first stretch on Wembanyama: if he's chasing him to the arc without a limp, the clearance was real. The full roster, the picks and the cap sheet are in the Thunder section on Hoops Nightly.

5:11The analyst: Tomorrow morning I'm checking one line on the report: whether Topic and Sorber still say October 22.