The NBA is letting them play — at least to Victor Wembanyama in this one instance.
The Spurs star will not receive a flagrant foul upgrade for pushing Knicks star Jalen Brunson in the first quarter of NBA Finals Game 3, noti.group’s Stefan Bondy reported.
Wembanyama will stay at two flagrant points, which he received for a flagrant 2 penalty after throwing an elbow at the Timberwolves’ Naz Reid earlier in the playoffs. If Wembanyama had — or does — earn two more flagrant points, he would be suspended for one game.
The Spurs big man, with a little less than five minutes left in the first quarter of San Antonio’s 115-111 win over the Knicks, shoved Brunson in the head from behind, sending the New York guard to the Madison Square Garden floor.
Immediately, former NBA star and ESPN/ABC analyst Richard Jefferson called for Wembanyama to be called for a flagrant 1. No foul was called on the play.
NBA senior vice president of referee development and training Monty McCutchen said on “NBA Today” earlier on Thursday that while the league missed a foul on the play, it would need something “clear and conclusive” to upgrade the play to a flagrant 1 or 2.
“I think we can all agree that a foul was missed on that play. A big part of our job is on-ball, off-ball exchanges between referees. We did a poor job of that here, where we got two people on-ball, and we don’t see the screening action,” McCutchen said.
Knicks’ Game 3 loss to the Spurs. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“If we break down in our fundamentals, in even the smallest amounts, we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul, as we missed here.”
The shove has drawn sharp criticism from a number of former NBA players, including ex-Knick Stephon Marbury, who labeled the play “dirty.”
Even Mayor Zohran Mamdani chimed in, saying the play should have been a flagrant.
Wembanyama and Brunson will be back on the Garden court for Game 4 on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
