"You see it on the film you can't ... believe it"

Scenes from a bizarre Saturday night in Dallas and the late cancellation of a Victor Wembanyama vs. Luka Dončić showdown

The plan had a slam-dunk feel.

School is out for winter break. Victor Wembanyama was scheduled to play his first NBA game in our city on Saturday night. The planets were aligned for my photo editor, typically immersed in his own array of activities, to cover Spurs at Mavericks for me.

Then freakish circumstances intervened. With my son well-positioned to capture the entirety of Wembanyama’s extensive pre-game routine from the nearby photography slot he staked out, San Antonio’s 19-year-old French phenom tangled with a Mavericks ballboy after a layup and tweaked an already vulnerable right ankle.

Wembanyama left the court, returned for some further warmups and then was pulled from the game completely by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich after going through layup lines. After the Mavericks rolled to a 144-119 victory, I was surprised Pop reacted as calmly as he did afterward … especially when I remembered how much the busy photographers’ row on the Dallas baseline back in the Timmy vs. Dirk Era used to rankle the Spurs.

"He was warming up and he came down on the ballboy's foot and tweaked his ankle again," Popovich said here. "Maybe he could have played; he probably could have played. If it was a playoff game, I probably would have played him. He's not happy about it, but I would rather err on the conservative side since it's the same ankle that he just got a time limitation on. Just a freak, freak accident before the game."

And then: "You see it on the film you can’t … believe it."

Disappointing as the late scratch was, contributing to a wholly uncompetitive evening, Aaron kept snapping. So I’ve included a few of his images from Saturday’s brief glimpses of Wemby … as both photo editor and publisher now await the Spurs’ next scheduled trip to Dallas on Valentine’s Day.

There was a look of disbelief on Wembanyama’s face after the injury occurred … presumably because of how it occurred. (Aaron Stein/For The Stein Line)

The Wembanyama free-throw stroke … after he returned to the floor pregame. (Aaron Stein/For The Stein Line)

Here’s Wemby in full flow during pregame warmups before he proved unable to lobby Gregg Popovich to let him actually play. (Aaron Stein/For The Stein Line)

One more coverage note: I published the following around-the-league Monday Musings compilation filled with trade chatter and share it again here ICYMI during holiday festivities.

Wembanyama, meanwhile, is averaging 18.5 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game this season (while shooting just 27.9% from 3-point range) as he closes in on his 20th birthday on Jan. 4. The Spurs have only won four of their first 28 games, but at least Wembanyama (averaging 30.2 minutes per game) has played in all but three of them.

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Film Session

Bernard King was my favorite player in my early teenage years.

It would thus be hard for anyone, in these unofficial rankings, to upstage King’s 60-point game for the Knicks against visiting New Jersey on Christmas Day in 1984.

I must say, though, that Dallas’ Luka Dončić made a heck of a run at it Monday night. He assembled just the second 50-point, 15-assist game in league history, joining James Harden (who did it in 2016) to plunge the suddenly 14-15 Phoenix Suns into further despair.

With his first 11 points, Dončić reached 10,000 career points faster than all but seven players in league history. Enclosed is a YouTube link to the video essay I prepared for the occasion for Bally Sports Southwest:

Also …

Couldn’t resist throwing in a bit of Bernard King video so you get a feel for what an unguardable problem he was nearly 40 years ago:

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Numbers Game

🏀 3-0

Memphis is 3-0 since Ja Morant returned from suspension and Morant was Tuesday named Western Conference Player of the Week for his gaudy production in those wins.

Image via the NBA’s Twitter feed.

🏀 .369

The Pistons, losers of 26 games in a row, need a home win over 14-15 Brooklyn on Tuesday night to avoid breaking the NBA record for consecutive regular-season losses. The franchise has a .369 winning percentage since the start of the 2011-12 season under Tom Gores’ ownership (358-613).

🏀 14

The Pistons have also lost an NBA-record 14 consecutive playoff games and last won one in 2008. They have made the playoffs twice in Gores’ 12 full seasons.

🏀 254

Trivia question: Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo recently became the fourth player in league history to rank as the franchise leader in points, rebounds and assists. Can you name the other three?

🏀 1947

This was the NBA’s 76^th Christmas to feature regular-season games dating to 1947. The Knicks have played 56 games on Christmas.

🏀 5

Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., per research from my fellow Substacker

Justin Kubatko

, is the first rookie to record a 30-point, 10-rebound game on Christmas Day since Patrick Ewing in 1985. Kubatko adds that he’s just the fifth rookie to ever do this on Christmas, joining Wilt Chamberlain (1959), Oscar Robertson (1960), Walt Bellamy (1961) and Ewing.

🏀 13

Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid has amassed at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in 13 consecutive games, which ranks as the fourth-longest such streak of all-time. Passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (16) and Elgin Baylor (15) is within range … but Wilt Chamberlain once had 65 (yes, 65) consecutive 30-and-10 games. (PS — I completely messed up the explanation of this one during a recent appearance on Bally Sports New Orleans and we ran out of TV time for to correct it and it’s been bothering me ever since.)

🏀 541

The Celtics just rang up 541 points on their four-game West Coast trip, which featured a fall-from-ahead loss in overtime to the Warriors and then rollicking victories over the Kings, Clippers and Lakers. Per Kubatko, Boston’s point total in that four-game stretch is its highest since March … of the 1967-68 season.

🏀 40

The Heat announced last week that it will retire Udonis Haslem’s No. 40 on Jan. 19 against Atlanta.

🏀 50

Haslem recently featured prominently (tied with Kobe Bryant for No. 2 in longevity) in our compilation below of the mere 50 players in league history to play for only one NBA franchise … and for at least 10 seasons with that team.

🏀 25

Have you noticed the appearance of some current Real Madrid soccer stars at recent NBA games? It’s possible because Spain’s La Liga, unlike the English Premier League, takes a winter break: 11 days this season from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3. Vinicius Junior and Eduardo Camavinga attended two Clippers games in Los Angeles and Thibaut Courtois (whose NBA fandom inspired this piece from me in The New York Times a few years ago) took in Mavericks/Rockets in Houston and Hawks/Heat in Miami.

🏀 3

Trivia answer: Kevin Garnett (Minnesota), LeBron James (Cleveland) and Michael Jordan (Chicago).

🏀 97.1

I’m on the radio Saturdays from noon to 1 PM CT on 97.1 (FM) The Freak in Dallas with an hour of live NBA talk presented by Panini Trading Cards and Collectibles. Join us online by clicking the link embedded in this sentence or via the iHeart radio app to listen to The Saturday Stein Line on this or any Saturday ... or catch the podcasted version of the show once it drops via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or #whereveryougetyourpodcasts: