Victor Wembanyama shoved New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson to the ground during the first quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on June 8, with about 4:44 remaining in the quarter, but no foul was called at the time [1, 2, 3, 4]. The New York Knicks protested the no-call during the game, but referees did not whistle a foul [1, 2, 3, 4].
The NBA later reviewed the play. Senior vice president Monty McCutchen admitted the shove should have been called a foul, saying, "we did a poor job of that here... we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul as we missed here" [1]. McCutchen confirmed the league's review did not lead to upgrading the play to a flagrant foul [1, 2].
Before this incident, Wembanyama had accumulated two flagrant foul points this postseason from an earlier flagrant-2 foul that ejected him for elbowing Naz Reid [1, 2]. If the shove had been upgraded to a flagrant-1 foul, he would have been one flagrant foul point away from an automatic suspension at four points [1].
The shove sparked public debate. Former President Donald Trump, who attended the game, called the no-call "a very bad call" but added, "I'm not the ref, you know?" He also praised key players, saying, "I think Brunson is amazing... Wemby is amazing... They're like great players, that's why they're there, right?" [4].
On the court, Wembanyama scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting with four rebounds and three assists in the Spurs’ 111-115 loss to the Knicks [3, 4].
The league’s decision to uphold the no-call means Wembanyama avoided additional flagrant foul points in a tightly contested NBA Finals series. The NBA will continue to monitor player conduct as the Finals progress.
