It’s getting more and more physical.
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, who picked up a flagrant foul for a hard hit on Karl-Anthony Towns in Wednesday’s historic NBA Finals loss to the Knicks, also got up close and personal with eventual Game 4 hero OG Anunoby.
With San Antonio leading 41-22 at the end of the first quarter, Wembanyama broke free from defender Jeremy Sochan to set a screen for De’Aaron Fox in an attempt to evade Anunoby’s defense.
The video, shared by noti.group’s Jared Schwartz, shows Wembanyama approaching Anunoby, jumping and lunging forward, landing awkwardly on top of the Knicks star’s right leg.
Neither player appeared to suffer any ill effects of Wembanyama’s closeout, but the 7-foot-4 center bumped Anunoby several more times for the rest of the possession, and even directed a complaint toward a referee.
No fouls were called on the play.
After being down 29 points, New York staged the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history with a 107-106 win – but Wembanyama continues to be on the receiving end of vitriol — and eggs — from the Knicks faithful.
“For those of you who don’t think Wemby is dirty explain this without saying it’s AI,” WFAN host Craig Carton wrote on X about the Anunoby screen.
“Dude tried to take OG’s ACL,” Buffalo Bills host Nate Geary wrote in response to the video.
While the angle from ESPN’s broadcast shows that Sochan might have shoved Wembanyama into Anunoby, any borderline physicality involving the French big man will be under a microscope.
The MVP finalist has drawn the ire of Knicks fans after a hard foul on star Jalen Brunson in Game 3 on Monday.
Wembanyama shoved Brunson to the ground in the first quarter of Monday’s contest, while appearing to laugh, and was not called for a personal foul, much less a flagrant.
Everyone from President Donald Trump to Mayor Zohran Mamdani ripped the non-call on Wembanyama.
Despite NBA senior vice president of referee development and training Monty McCutchen admitting a “foul was missed,” the league elected not to issue a retroactive flagrant on Wembanyama, a ruling that now looms large for the remainder of the series.
Entering the Finals, Wembanyama already carried two flagrant points for elbowing the Timberwolves center Naz Reid in the throat during the Western Conference semifinals.
After being hit with a flagrant for elbowing Towns in the third quarter of Game 4, Wembanyama now carries three points — a fourth would trigger an immediate one-game suspension.
If the NBA reviews the Anunoby play and issues a retroactive flagrant, Wembanyama would be suspended for Game 5.
Carrying a 3-1 series lead, the Knicks will look to clinch the franchise’s first title since 1973 as the teams return to San Antonio for Game 5 Saturday night.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
