Victor Wembanyama's concussion may test just how title-ready the Spurs actually are

No one is expecting the San Antonio Spurs to go on a championship run without Victor Wembanyama. But if they're the NBA Finals contender everyone believes them to be, they should be able to beat the Portland Trail Blazers without him.

That's if Wembanyama has to miss an extended period of time.

We don't know how long the newly-minted Defensive Player of the Year will be out. If he misses time at all. Wembanyama suffered a concussion in the second quarter of Tuesday's game after taking a hard fall and hitting his head on the ground. Now, he's in the concussion protocol and his status is in the air.

With Wemby out, Portland went on to win Game 2 and tie the series at 1-1. Now, the pressure is on the Spurs to bounce back on the road... whether he's available or not.

If Wembanyama is the cheat code we all believe him to be, his absence only levels the playing field between the 2-seed Spurs and 7-seed Blazers. But it doesn't mean San Antonio is suddenly at a disadvantage. It just means we have a real series now.

It's true no team functions the same without their best player -- especially when that player is an MVP finalist -- but when you win 62 games and have the second-best odds to win a championship, you're assumed to be greater than one player.

Those things are the result of a collective. And now is potentially the San Antonio collective's time to prove they're worthy of the hype.

The common knock on the Spurs is their inexperience. If they want us to believe that's overstated, winning a first-round series without their best player is a good place to start. If they can't, the team probably wasn't good enough to win a championship anyway -- even with Wembanyama in the lineup.

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