Spurs at Suns: Wembanyama tests a Phoenix frontcourt without its starting center

Few NBA teams have changed direction as quickly as the San Antonio Spurs. They lost their first two games of the season, to Oklahoma City and Houston, and have not lost since: eight straight wins, four of them on the road, the latest a 125-103 victory at Portland on Saturday. On Monday they visit a Phoenix team in the opposite situation. At 3-5, the Suns beat Orlando on Thursday and Houston on Saturday for their first back-to-back wins of the season, but they have yet to win on the road and are playing without the center who was supposed to anchor their interior defense.

• Competition: NBA 2026-27 regular season.
• Matchup: San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns (NBA game ID 0022600209).
• Tipoff: Monday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. in Phoenix (Arizona time, UTC-7); 9 p.m. ET; 02:00 UTC Tuesday, Nov. 10.
• Venue: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, Arizona.

Wembanyama at full force

Wembanyama is averaging 29.1 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.9 blocks through San Antonio's 10 games, according to the season's box scores, and leads the NBA in blocks per game in ESPN's statistics. On Nov. 4 he set career highs with 52 points and 24 rebounds in a 112-111 win over Dallas; two nights later he had 30 points and 14 rebounds in 26 minutes at Sacramento. On Saturday at Portland, he needed just 24 minutes to score 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

Mitch Johnson has settled on a stable lineup around him: Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle, De'Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell have started every game. Harper, in his second season, is the team's second-leading scorer at 18.1 points; Castle adds 15.3 points and 5.0 assists, and Fox leads the team with 5.9 assists. Off the bench, Julian Champagnie has been the most reliable shooter, with 28 3-pointers made.

The schedule also favors San Antonio, which is off Sunday and arrives with a full day of rest. Phoenix hosts the Clippers on Tuesday, the second night of a back-to-back.

Phoenix leans on Booker and looks for size

Devin Booker is carrying the Suns with 25.2 points and 4.9 assists per game. He scored 30 against Orlando and 24 in Saturday's 102-99 win over Houston, a game Phoenix led 35-23 after the first quarter before holding off a Rockets rally. Miles Bridges (16.9 points, 8.1 rebounds) and Dillon Brooks (16.8 points, 18-for-39 from 3-point range) round out the core of the offense. Jalen Green, a starter in all eight games, is averaging 12.4 points but has made only 6 of his 28 attempts from deep.

The trouble is in the paint. Mark Williams, the projected starting center, had surgery on Sept. 11 to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, and the team has not set a timetable for his return. Without him, Jordan Ott has split the minutes between Khaman Maluach, who has started six games and is averaging 7.4 points and 6.5 rebounds in 19.6 minutes, and Oso Ighodaro, who has started twice. Neither has yet faced an opponent with Wembanyama's reach.

The early results are another concern: Phoenix has lost all three of its road games, and two of its five losses came against Portland, 124-83 in the opener and 132-119 at home on Nov. 4.

Availability ahead of Monday

Neither team had submitted its report for Monday's game in the NBA's official injury report of Sunday, Nov. 8, at 8:45 a.m. ET. These are the designations from Saturday's final report (10 p.m. ET), which covered each team's game that night.

Phoenix Suns

• Mark Williams: out — left shoulder surgery.
• Jordan Goodwin: out — right calf injury management.
• Rasheer Fleming: available — had been listed with a left ankle sprain.
• Drew Timme: out on G League assignment as a two-way player.

San Antonio Spurs

• Tobias Harris: out — left calf strain. He has yet to make his Spurs debut.
• Jayden Quaintance: out — right knee surgery.
• Maliq Brown and Ja'Kobi Gillespie: out on G League assignment as two-way players.

Harris' absence costs San Antonio a veteran forward, but Champagnie and Keldon Johnson have absorbed those minutes. For Phoenix, losing Goodwin, a perimeter defender off the bench, means more time for Collin Gillespie, who is averaging 2.4 steals in 24.5 minutes.

Where the game turns

Wembanyama vs. Maluach and Ighodaro. Phoenix has neither a center of his size nor Williams' experience. If the Suns send help into the lane, they would leave shooters such as Champagnie and Vassell open; if they guard him one-on-one, Wembanyama can punish them from the post and from the perimeter.

Booker vs. Castle and Vassell. San Antonio has two long perimeter defenders to rotate on the Phoenix guard. If they push him off his spots, Phoenix's scoring would have to come from Brooks and Bridges, who have been less consistent.

Defensive rebounding. With Wembanyama averaging 12 rebounds and Bridges the Suns' top rebounder, Phoenix's work on the defensive glass could decide how many extra possessions San Antonio gets.

How to watch Spurs vs. Suns

• Venue: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix.
• Date and time: Monday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. in Phoenix; 9 p.m. ET; 02:00 UTC Tuesday.

United States — Monday, Nov. 9, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT

• TV: 3TV and Arizona's Family Sports in the Suns' local market, according to the NBA's official schedule.
• Streaming: Suns+ in the Phoenix market; DAZN in the Spurs' local territory (South and West Texas).
• Out of market: NBA League Pass, subject to the usual local blackouts. No national broadcast has been scheduled.

United Kingdom — Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2 a.m. GMT

• Streaming: NBA League Pass.
• TV: the game is not on Sky Sports' published NBA schedule for that week.

Australia — Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1 p.m. AEDT (Sydney, Melbourne) / 12 p.m. AEST (Brisbane) / 10 a.m. AWST (Perth)

• Streaming: NBA League Pass.
• TV: broadcast not yet announced.

Monday will show whether Phoenix, with Booker in form and two straight wins, has an answer inside for the most dominant player of the young season, or whether San Antonio stretches its winning streak to nine.