Victor Wembanyama is now one flagrant foul away from an automatic NBA Finals suspension, and the reaction across the basketball world was immediate after officials assessed him a Flagrant 1 during Game 4 against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
The ruling pushed Wembanyama’s postseason flagrant-point total to three, leaving the San Antonio Spurs superstar just one point shy of a mandatory one-game ban with the NBA Finals still hanging in the balance.
Wembanyama’s Flagrant Foul History in the Finals
Wembanyama’s first two flagrant points arrived in the second round, when he was ejected for an elbow to Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid’s head, according to Yahoo Sports reporter Ryan Young. San Antonio dropped that game without him, an early preview of how much the Spurs’ chances depend on keeping him on the floor.
Entering the Finals, his count stood at two. Then came Game 3.
Wembanyama shoved New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson by the head in the first quarter Monday night, a play that drew no foul in real time. The NBA’s senior vice president of referee development, Monty McCutchen, acknowledged Tuesday that a common foul should have been assessed, but the league declined to upgrade the play to a flagrant after its postgame review, according to NBC Sports. Wembanyama entered Game 4 still at two points.
The Game 4 Flagrant 1 â a third-quarter elbow to Karl-Anthony Towns‘ head â changed that.
“Flagrant Foul 1 assessed to San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama,” The Stein Line newsletter publisher Marc Stein wrote on X after the call. “He now has three flagrant foul points in this postseason ⦠one point shy of a one-game suspension,” as quoted by Stein on X. Stein noted the prior day’s non-upgrade had kept Wembanyama at two points despite the league conceding a foul had been missed.
SNY’s New York Knicks reporter Ian Begley explained the rules.
“Players who reach 4 flagrant foul points are subject to suspension. NBA ruled that Wembanyama’s excessive shove of Jalen Brunson in Game 3 did not meet the threshold to be upgraded to a flagrant,” as quoted by Begley on X.
San Antonio Spurs Face Suspension Watch
ESPN broadcaster Stan Verrett drew a recent historical parallel.
“If Wembanyama gets baited into another flagrant, he’s out for Game 5 like Draymond in 2016,” as quoted by Verrett on X â a reference to Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green’s suspension that reshaped the 2016 NBA Finals.
ClutchPoints Warriors beat reporter Kenzo Fukuda offered a counterpoint. The formal flagrant 1, Fukuda argued, might paradoxically make Wembanyama “teflon in terms of what he’s allowed to do now â like 1 tech Draymond.”
The dominant argument online centered on the gap between the Game 3 non-upgrade and Wednesday’s flagrant assessment. Had the league treated the Brunson shove as a flagrant the night before, Wembanyama would have entered Game 4 with three points and a suspension would now take effect. Others pushed back, calling Wednesday’s elbow the kind of incidental contact that typically escapes review in NBA playoff basketball.
One this is for sure. With another flagrant foul in any remaining game and the Spurs lose their best player for a Finals game.
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