Victor Wembanyama has made headlines for the right reasons this NBA Finals series—and the wrong ones.
The Spurs star found himself in the center of controversy yet again after he appeared to commit a landing-zone violation on Jalen Brunson’s three-pointer try midway through the third quarter of Game 5. Brunson pulled up at the top of arc to launch his three while Wembanyama outstretched his arm to contest it. As Brunson was coming down, Wemby stuck out his right foot into the Knicks guard’s landing space—and he was caught looking down, too, which makes it look semi-intentional. Brunson looked like he was in visible pain after landing on Wemby’s foot and hobbled as he got up off the court.
The referees, headed by crew chief Scott Foster, declined to blow their whistle. A very angry Brunson got up and pled his case to a nearby ref, as did coach Mike Brown.
Here’s video of that controversial no-call:
“No doubt [Wemby] takes away his space on a closeout,” ESPN’s announcers said on-air. “Should be a flagrant.”
NBA fans agreed, taking plentiful shots at the officiating on social media:
Victor Wembanyama escapes suspension after controversial no-call while closing out Jalen Brunson three-pointer… for now
What makes the no-call even worse is that had the refs blown their whistle and called the flagrant, Wembanyama would have picked up his fourth flagrant foul this postseason and therefore face an automatic suspension per the NBA’s playoff penalty rules.
Wemby got ejected from Game 4 of the Spurs-Timberwolves series in the Western Conference semifinals, which led to him picking up two flagrant foul points. He then picked up a flagrant one foul for elbowing Karl-Anthony Towns in Game 4 of the Finals, bringing his total up to three points. If he reaches four flagrant foul points, he would be automatically suspended for a game (in this case, for Game 6, assuming the Spurs win Game 5).
It’s worth noting that Brunson got called for a flagrant one foul for a very similar closeout on Spurs’ Julian Champagnie in Game 3:
As Marc Stein noted, Wembanyama can still be assessed a retroactive flagrant foul, which would suspend him for a potential NBA Finals Game 6. Earlier in the series, the league reviewed Wembanyama’s controversial shove of Brunson in Game 3 and ruled that he should have received a common foul, but not a flagrant one.
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