Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon accuse Victor Wembanyama of staging viral moment following ejection
Credit: NBA on NBC; The Hoop Collective Podcast Lost in the buzz around Victor Wembanyama getting ejected in the second quarter of Sunday’s Game 5 against Minnesota was a moment, captured on air by NBC, in which the third-year San Antonio star could be seen asking a teammate what the ruling by the referees meant. After the officials called a Flagrant 2 foul on Wembanyama’s shot to Timberwolves forward Naz Reid’s head, cameras caught Wembanyama asking fellow Spur Harrison Barnes to clarify . Barnes can be seen in the clip telling Wembanyama that the foul was a Flagrant 2, meaning he was ejected from the game.
In response, Wembanyama stands up and walks away. Was it the buzz of the Minnesota crowd? Did something get lost in translation with the Frenchman?
Or, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon argued on Monday, was the young superstar merely showboating? “For as cerebral and as well-versed as Victor is, do we honestly believe that he didn’t know? ” Windhorst asked in a postgame edition of his podcast , The Hoop Collective .
“He knew the camera was on him,” McMahon interrupted. “Buddy, you know a Flagrant 2 gets you tossed. Come on.
You’re in your third year in the league, stop. ” While Sunday’s incident was Wembanyama’s first NBA ejection ever, it does seem a bit absurd that a generational basketball star would not know such a basic rule of the game. And even if he had misheard the referees over the arena’s PA system, once Barnes answered that he had been hit with a Flagrant 2, Wembanyama would have known the outcome.