The first thing I thought when I saw the Victor Wembanyama news — well, the first thing after the string of unprintable expletives — was, “Please, God, don’t let it be like Chris Bosh.” A decade ago,

Victor Wembanyama is one of the faces of the NBA, the star of the San Antonio Spurs and already one of the biggest names in basketball around the world.

At 23-29, the Spurs occupy just the No. 12 seed in a crowded Western Conference. They are a scant 3.5 games behind the No. 10-seeded Golden State Warriors (28-27), but without their best player, they seem doomed now to miss the play-in tournament entirely and head straight for the lottery.