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NBA admits fault, will review Victor Wembanyama foul for possible flagrant

Victor Wembanyama committed a clear flagrant foul in Game 3 of the NBA finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, but the whistle never came. Now, the NBA has admitted fault and will review it for a retroactive flagrant foul.

The play happened in the first quarter of the contest, when Wembanyama, who led the Spurs to a 115-111 win by scoring 32 points, clearly and intentionally shoved Jalen Brunson to the ground by his head and neck area.

Brunson immediately complained for what should have been a flagrant foul, but Wembanyama got away with it. The play was not reviewed.

The NBA’s head of officiating, Monty McCutchen, was on ESPN on Tuesday and admitted that the foul was missed by officials. He also revealed the play would be reviewed and a retroactive flagrant foul could be assessed.

“NBA head of officiating Monty McCutchen, appearing now on ESPN, acknowledges that a foul was missed on Victor Wembanyama’s first-quarter shove of Jalen Brunson and says the league’s review is still ongoing regarding whether the play will be deemed a retroactive flagrant foul,” NBA reporter Marc Stein said.

This isn’t the first time Wembanyama has been the center of controversy for a dirty play.

The Spurs superstar was assessed a Flagrant 2 and ejected for a foul in the Western Conference semifinals.

If he gets two more flagrant foul points, Wembanyama would face a suspension.

To his credit, Jalen Brunson didn’t make a big stink about it after the game, with the Knicks star simply saying, “whatever you saw is what you saw.”

Mike Brown is fed up

The Spurs getting away with fouls has no doubt been one of the themes of the last two games of the NBA Finals.

Anybody who is looking at those two contests objectively will tell you officials have clearly slanted their calls in favor of San Antonio.

After Game 3, head coach Mike Brown showed he’s clearly fed up with it.

“I never thought I’d be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight,” he said. “I don’t think I complain much about officials or the fairness when it comes to the free throw attempts. San Antonio is a great team. It’s going to lower our odds big time if we play Game 4 and in the second half they get 24 free throw attempts to our eight. Maybe we were fouling, but they fouled too.”

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In addition to the Spurs getting 16 more free throw attempts in the second half on Monday night, San Antonio made more free throws throughout the game (25) than the Knicks attempted (22).

Of course, the Knicks did themselves no favors by being in the penalty early in the fourth, but in no world should there have been that much of a gap between the two teams with second-half fouls, as there was a ton of physicality on both sides.

Rest assured, officiating will once again be under the microscope on Wednesday night, when the Knicks and Spurs square off for Game 4, with New York holding a 2-1 series lead.

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