Victor Wembanyama appeared pumped when he ejected Gregg Popovich with 5:59 left in the fourth quarter of the Spurs’ 120-109 opening night loss to the Mavericks on Thursday.

While Popovich was right to sit his star player with the Mavs leading 111-90 and the game virtually out of reach, he may have had to pull the game for Wemby either way.

The Frenchman has had visible fitness problems after playing less than 40 minutes on the field in two of San Antonio’s five pre-season games. After Thursday’s opener, Wembanyama admitted that he was still recovering his legs and that his fitness level was nowhere near its peak.

“For me, none of us have played four games since mid-summer,” Wembanyama said. via Michael C. Wright of ESPN. “It’s a struggle. Every player in the NBA goes through this. Conditioning is no excuse (for missed shots). I’m going to have different weapons that we have to know when to use. So for missed shots, it takes more getting used to shooting, getting used to shooting again in a game.” .”

One of the most important signs of Wembanyama’s poor condition was his lack of defensive mobility and his inability to shoot from the basket. After leading the NBA with 3.6 blocks per game as a rookie, the 7-foot-4 phenom was able to make a solo block on Thursday when she denied Dereck Lively II’s layup attempt at the end of the first half.

On the offensive side, Wembanyama finished the game with 17 points on a below-average 5/18 from the field and 1/8 from three-point range. He also committed an uncharacteristic four turnovers.

Despite the tough opener, Wemby seemed optimistic about him regaining form in “a game or two” and was grateful for “some good basketball moments” he shared on the court with his colleagues, including new teammate Chris Paul.

Spurs will host the Rockets in their first home game on Saturday. Wemby will be paired with Rockets superstar Alperen Sengun, who had a monster stat line of 25 points and 18 rebounds in his team’s season opener against Charlotte.