12:28 pm: The NBA has issued a warning to Wembanyama about violating media access rules but won’t fine him, reports Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).
8:56 am: After playing his worst game of the 2026 postseason, Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama exited Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center on Tuesday night without speaking to the reporters who were waiting to hear from him, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.
As Amick writes, it was a surprising move from a young star who was voted the most media-friendly player in the NBA this year by the Professional Basketball Writers Association. Wembanyama’s decision to duck his post-game media duties will force the league office to decide whether to issue him a fine, since those media sessions are mandated by league rules.
It was a frustrating night for Wembanyama and the Spurs, who were defeated by a score of 127-114 and now trail the Thunder 3-2 in the series. The 22-year-old made just 4-of-15 shots from the floor, including 0-of-5 from beyond the arc. His 20 points represented his lowest mark of the series and his six rebounds were well below his playoff average.
San Antonio was outscored by eight points when Wembanyama was on the floor, marking the first time in the Western Conference finals and just the third time in the playoffs that the Defensive Player of the Year had a negative net rating. The only other two postseason contests in which the Spurs were outscored during Wembanyama’s minutes were the ones he exited early due to an injury (in round one) or ejection (in round two).
Head coach Mitch Johnson acknowledged during his own post-game media session that the team will need a bigger game from its superstar in San Antonio on Thursday in order to avoid elimination and force a Game 7, as Michael C. Wright of ESPN relays.
“He’s got to take more than 15 shots,” Johnson said. “Even with the (12) free throws, he’s going to have to score more than 20 points for sure.”
Asked whether Wembanyama’s off night was a result of a lack of aggression or if it was a game plan issue, Johnson suggested it was a combination of both factors, Wright notes.
“OKC did a good job. We’ve got to do a better job,” Johnson said. “That’s probably the easiest in terms of when you (look at) surface-level stuff that he’ll definitely need to take more shots. But there’s a lot of things all over the place. Even when we had advantages, we just didn’t make simple plays and take advantage of the opportunity, that possession. In this type of game, you’ve got to be sure of everything you’re doing in a very secure, mature way.”
“I think they send so many bodies towards him, it’s hard at times,” teammate Stephon Castle added. “I think he just wants to make the right play and wants to win. So, it’s tough. But yeah, he’s our best player. We need him to be aggressive. I feel like him being aggressive opens up shots for other guys.”
Spurs need Wemby to be aggressive… But they all need to be aggressive…
They need to fo more of the old 2 feet in the paint dribble drive… They have so many weapons that are deadly in the paint and at the mid range that settling for 3s without a dribble drive is bad for their momentum…
OKC got them out of their rythym… And Wemby is either too passive or tired… He does have games like this trying to let the team win happen… But away games in the playoffs are when the teams leader neede to show up…
as bad as i want wemby to win, i feel like him losing and going thru it is gonna take him to another level next year.
He played without heart and the acted like a child afterward. We are occasionally reminded that he’s 22 and yes there is a lot of weight on him. My problem is he brings it on himself because he won’t keep his mouth shut. Except last night apparently. He really embarrassed himself from start to finish.
Vic has about 10 games this year for which he just didn’t show up. You could tell two minutes in the last night’s game that it would be one of those. Selling people before halftime that Mitch should rest him and others in the second half because once Victor starts that way he doesn’t turn it around.
Throughout the season, they won several of those games because guys like FOX or castle or Harper or KJ carried but unfortunately, OKC is better than that and Fox at Harper are obviously playing at 50% of their capabilities given their leg injuries.
No excuses because I was Casey injuries also, but it’s a shame that country isn’t getting to see this Spurs in full strength.
“He played without heart and the acted like a child afterward.”
Give me a break dude.
Wemby needs about another 40 pounds so he can take the pounding to stop the pouting IMO.
@ElliotMess ok so since you stated that, plz explain to me what adding 40 pounds of physical weight has to do with Wemby’s emotions or as you stated “pouting”??
Downvoted.
“He played without heart and the acted like a child afterward. We are occasionally reminded that he’s 22”
You wrote all this nonsense of a mini-essay when you explained the reason in your first sentence. Only one acting like a child here is you. Grow up. Curry also in his prime “didnt show up” for like 5 games. Its impossible to “show up” for 82+16. Stop acting like that is possible. He had a bad game, but so does Bron, Curry, Joker, every big superstar ever. So gross you wrote “acted like a child after” without him having a say in it.
@Davey
Yess!!! Thank you Davey!! Some individuals act like these athletes are robots or God-like. At the end of the day, they are still human beings. The only difference is that they have God-Given abilities or attributes that make them desirable for a national basketball team to recognize and try to recruit them.
Especially for such a worthless thing, this isnt on court its just the press acting so extremist and sensitive for no reason. They got whooped and he played bad, you dont need to hear it from him. Confidence is everything and how can you expect your confidence to go up when you have dozens of vultures getting you to explain how much you sucked that night, like what do you even want from him? Everyone gotta move on.
correct…if not wanting to talk to reporters after a tough loss is Wemby’s worst fault he’s pretty much a perfect human being i guess.
it was a smart move actually. He’s been talking a little reckless all year about OKC, which is only going to motivate them. He hasn’t said anything crazy, but if you want to talk junk you better be built to take the other teams best shot. go ahead and talk your ish, but at the end the day you’re only making it harder on yourself. Id recommend keeping the off-court rhetoric mellow, let your play do the s**t talking.
What an awful take. I’m not a Spurs fan but I’ve watched them a whole lot this season and throughout the playoffs. If there’s one thing this kid doesn’t ever lack, it’s heart. He’s handling himself well considering he’s never played this much ball in his life, and at the highest competitive level possible on top of that. Ups and downs are natural.
Ant.. Is that you?
Looks like duncan, or the admiral need to have a talk with this guy. looks like a sore loser
Hardest loss of his short career. Maybe stop overreacting and drink less poisoned OK ground water.
Maybe being forced to talk to the media after devastating emotional playoff games is a stupid concept. Maybe he’s 22 years old and is still maturing. Everybody throwing around judgments here like they had it all figured out at 22
Some people here still don’t have it figured out I would argue lol.
“League rules?” Disgusting. Blood sucking millionaires.
This comment section just proves Wemby is on the right direction.
A minor decision to not speak with tbe media due to frustration with himself is already being labeled as “sore loser” or “child-like behavior”
Is this really that big of a deal? Move on folks
@Brabo
I completely agree. The problem is that most people nowadays are so judgmental about anything anyone does, and this matter is even more elevated when it comes to celebrities or athletes like Wemby. The kid is going through a tough transition right now, and ppl are so quick to criticize him after one bad game. Smh, it’s time for us to be better. I’ll leave it at that
Yes.
This is how America is…
Minor issues like who gets to use the bathroom take centre stage and name calling over who is right is accepted…
Is a long stemming societal issue…
It really was as simple and Spurs not hitting 3pt shots and OKC red hot from 3pt land again. Everything else was even. And if Spurs hit their open shots then Wemby gets more inside looks.
1 guy who was there for the post game availability was the very best basketball player in the world, prime Shaivonte… link to youtube.com
Well, he’s certainly the best flopper in the world, the 17 ftas last night puts him up to avging 10.3/gm in the playtoffs.
SMH!
Like every great player in the history of the game, Shai is elite at getting to the line. He’s elite in pretty much every part of the game tbh. I guess that’s why he’s the reigning 2x MVP, reigning Finals MVP & on the verge of leading his team to back2back titles
“Like every great player in the history of the game, Shai is elite at getting to the line”
While true, he is also a top 5 flopper in NBA history. This is just a fact. It works, so it makes sense to keep doing it, but fans have a right to be frustrated at seeing Fox get called for a foul when he went out of his way to avoid SGA, who crumpled to the floor. Or during that play where Mitch Johnson got called for a tech, where SGA caught his toe on the court and lost his balance and went crumpling to the floor again for a foul despite, again, no contact.
Ultimately this is up to the NBA and the refs, but fans have a right to hate it. We don’t need to pretend he doesn’t do it to an extreme level.
SGA does flop, so do a lot of players that drive to the basket a lot and get fouled almost every time. Brunson comes to mind. He’s worse than SGA imo. Embiid is the king of flopping.
I hate the flopping, but i also think its funny when eg Castle runs into SGA like he’s playing linebacker then gets upset when SGA crumbles to the floor and a foul is called.
i don’t know, maybe try to stop fouling him so much and you’d see less flopping.
Also, ever see the flop compilation for LeBron, it’s hilarious. He’s the King…of flopping
Brunson isn’t close to the flopper that SGA is, and the FTa numbers prove it.
Brunson’s head is already flopping around while he’s still dribbling.
@Whisper: Brunson is nowhere near as bad as SGA. Come on. I hate when Brunson flops but SGA, Embiid, Harden, etc are on another level.
1st off you gotta learn the difference between a fact & an opinion. Next you should definitely take this opportunity to look inwards because that’s where you’ll find the true reason why you dislike Shai so much. Spoiler alert, it has nothing to do with flopping. Vlade, Manu, AReaves ‘flop’ & nobody says a word. Bron, Harden & Shai do it & they’re a disgrace to the game. I get that it’s uncomfortable to admit even yo yourselves, but I mean come on y’all it’s extremely obvious at this point.
Y’all loved Jokic (who also flops just as much as anyone) & Shai took his spot as the best player in the world. There’s not really anything legitimate that you can criticize about him, especially as a basketball player. So y’all just went with the same thing you used against Harden. With Jordan it was not being a team player. With Bron it was not having a jump shot, then it was him being too much of a team player, then he was a coward for leaving Cleveland. No matter whether y’all have something legitimate to complain about or not it’s a 100% given that y’all are gonna hate on whatever great Black athlete thats currently dominating.
To be fair, I didn’t like the flopping from any of those guys, Vlade, Manu, anyone. Social media wasn’t really a thing back then where everyone could voice their opinion no matter how factual or crazy it might be. I totally get what you’re saying though and you’re probably right in some cases. I just can’t stand flopping. That’s another reason why I love Ant’s game, no flopping involved. (really hoping he never adds that to his game)
Sorry, but no one flops as much as SGA, and no team flops as much as OKC.
Those are FACTS, not opinions.
@Sankara
“1st off you gotta learn the difference between a fact & an opinion.”
I know the difference and don’t need you to condescend. SGA flops. This is a literal fact.
“Next you should definitely take this opportunity to look inwards because that’s where you’ll find the true reason why you dislike Shai so much.”
I don’t need to look inwards and once again, I don’t need you to condescend to me. I don’t even dislike SGA so you’re doing a lot of assuming.
“Vlade, Manu, AReaves ‘flop’ & nobody says a word.”
Wrong. I hated when Vlade and Manu did it and I hate AR. Try again.
“I get that it’s uncomfortable to admit even yo yourselves, but I mean come on y’all it’s extremely obvious at this point.”
The fact that you’re making this into a race thing instead of just admitting that SGA flops is insane and it says so much more about you than it does about me.
“Y’all loved Jokic (who also flops just as much as anyone) ”
Aaaaaaaand wrong again. I’m a Knicks fan. I don’t care about Jokic.
“not it’s a 100% given that y’all are gonna hate on whatever great Black athlete thats currently dominating.”
Literally all of my favorite NBA players are Black, current and past. You are an embarrassment to these boards. Please go race-bait elsewhere.
As tired as he looked, he probably decided getting some sleep was a higher priority!
Yikes, I’d hate to have my character judged on one of the many sub-optimal decisions I made when I was 22. I was an ordinary young person, with an ordinary amount of pressure on me, and I still messed up a whole lot!
Of course, it would have been better if Wembanyama had talked to the press last night. But the harsh critiques of his behavior last night after the game are pretty ridiculous. He’s 22, for God’s sake, and he usually handles himself very well.
I want the Thunder to win, FWIW, but sheesh, give the young man a break.
He might even have good reason for doing it, that is the worst part about all these gun-jumpers. Acting as if he came out and flipped the press the double bird and walked off is way more of an immature take than this situation.
So talented, but he’s become such a big baby whiner
He had a bad game and avoided a boring media session. He’s 22. No one will remember this in a week much less years down the line when he has MVPs and probable championships under his belt. Heck, if he has a great Game 6, everyone will forget about this by Friday morning.
So he is human…or maybe he was rushing back to the spaceship
Wemby did what he did. Who cares?
But Silver, once again, fails another simple test of leadership. The rules provide for a fine, and Silver routinely levels them. Thus, he needed to level one here. Or, better yet, eliminate the rule. Of course, in Silver’s world, that is never the answer.
It is all about making money…
He doesn’t want the poster boy of the league for the next decade to leave over something trivial…
Nor does he want the press to feel like they don’t get their moneys worth by allowing players to not be available…
However isn’t coming out of the NCAA… He has taken education seriously… So probably gets more rope because of that…
NBA Flopping fines and suspensions:
2026: 0
2025: 1
2024: 6
2023: 26
2022: 0
2021: 0
2020: 1
2019: 2
2018: 0
2017: 0
2016: 0
2015: 2
2014: 6
2013: 9
2012: 12
2011: 0
NBA refs man…such a joke…
I hear Silvers answer is to bring in AI…
Honestly, all sports umpires and referees are literally the types of jobs that should be replaced with ai. “The human element” is just “allowing corruption”. There is no difference between a ref claiming they just missed the call, and someone purposely missing a call. I’d rather have laser-guided lines like they have in pro tennis used in basketball, baseball, football and soccer.
There are a lot of spaces where AI would simply be more efficient and strangely more humane as well… Anything involving a government budget for example…
I would of like them to put the video review station in every arena first… With the ability to over turn and reset the clock and score… It happens in other sports…
The only downside there is the lack of trust in the human option to avoid corruption with legalised gambling…
“There is no difference between a ref claiming they just missed the call, and someone purposely missing a call.”
Literally this. This is exactly why we need to replace refs with tech.
When I think back to when I was 22 and all the dumb things I did, not talking to reporters wouldn’t even crack the top 20. It’s a non-issue. He seems like a good kid overall. This is hardly a career defining moment.
Being he had no idea he had been ejected for being tech’d up, he might not have even known it was mandatory for him to address the media. I cant stand how people are speaking as if he double bird flipped off the press and stormed out. Lets hear the why first.
That’s true, he may not have.
The Spur’s coach should tell Wemby to get down in the low block.
Wemby’s nerves about the prospect of having to face KAT and especially Mitch Robinson are getting to him, and so he’s losing the focus of the task at hand that is winning this series first. If he doesn’t lock back in to the next games, he might get eliminated now.
Lol, that seems wrong. No way a player in a series vs the defending champion/ heavy favorites to repeat is thinking about the Knicks.