Playing in his first real game since France’s loss to the United States in the Olympic gold medal game, Victor Wembanyama was not at his best for the San Antonio Spurs in Thursday night’s 120-109 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Wembanyama told reporters after the game that his conditioning was “a little difficult” to overcome at first, but that was “no excuse” for his style of play.

“For me, none of us have really played four games since the middle of the summer,” he said. “It’s a fight. Every player in the NBA goes through this. Conditioning is not an excuse (for misses). I will have different weapons that we need to know when to use. So with the missed shots, it takes more getting used to. Getting used to shooting, getting used to shooting again in a game.

The reigning Rookie of the Year scored 17 points on 5 of 18 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and had four turnovers in 28 minutes. Although he played twice in the preseason, this was his first competitive appearance since August 10th.

Wembanyama’s 27.8 field goal percentage against the Mavs marked the worst shooting game of his young NBA career. His previous low was a 23.1 percent success rate on March 19, which he also achieved against Dallas.

Dallas’ game plan on defense was clearly designed to focus all attention on Wembanyama when he got the ball, especially inside the three-point line. During the game, several bodies surround him, preventing him from reaching the rim.

The Spurs aren’t a great offensive team anyway, but early in the season, when they’re playing without Devin Vassell, efficiency numbers are especially difficult to come by. He recovers from it Off-season surgery He needs to repair a stress fracture in his foot and will be reevaluated on November 1st.

Vassell ranked second on the team in scoring at 19.5 points per game and shot 37.2 percent from three-point range last season. The Spurs scored 12 of 36 goals from behind the arc on Thursday night.

Wembanyama will have much better games this season. The Spurs just had a tough matchup against the reigning Western Conference champions to start the 2024-25 season.