San Antonio Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama will face no further punishment for shoving New York Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Knicks guard Jose Alvarado took exception to Wembanyama's hard foul on Brunson, calling it a dirty play ahead of Game 4 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
Alvarado called out Wembanyama for his controversial foul on Brunson, per the New York Post's Zach Braziller.
“I think that's not basketball,” Alvarado said. “That's something that they gotta look at. But he got away with one. That'll be the last one.”
While the NBA could still have assessed a flagrant foul on review, it chose not to as we enter Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Many speculate the association wouldn't give Wembanyama a second flagrant-2 after Victor earned a flagrant-2 for throwing an elbow at the throat of Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid in the Western Conference semifinals.
Victor Wembanyama put NBA in difficult position after Spurs win
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) shoots the ball against San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during game three of the 2026 NBA Finals in the third quarter at Madison Square Garden
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Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama's hard foul on Knicks' Jalen Brunson put the NBA in a tough spot, considering a potential suspension could have been discussed before Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Longtime former NBA official and now NBA Senior VP, Head of Development and Training for Referee Operations, Monty McCutchen, joined ESPN on Tuesday to talk about the play.
McCutchen addressed Wembanyama's controversial foul in Game 3, per ESPN's NBA Today.
“I think we can all agree that a foul was missed,” McCutchen says on NBA Today. “A big part of our job is on-ball, off-ball exchanges between referees. We did a poor job of that here, where we've got two guys on-ball, and we don't see the screening action. There's a lot of fighting over screens throughout the game, and if we break down in our fundamentals, even in the smallest amount, we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul, as we did here.
“Every game is reviewed by the league office postgame, the entirety of the game, and we're in the process of doing that today. Most certainly, it's important to note as we do that review that there's a real deference, just like in our replay center, that we want a clear and conclusive standard to upgrade something because we do defer to the on-court officials. They're the ones feeling the moment, they're the ones that are involved in the up-and-down of the game. If there's a clear miss, then there's a possibility for an upgrade, but it is a clear and conclusive standard. It's not the same as re-refereeing it.”
The Knicks will host the Spurs in Game 4 on Wednesday.
San Antonio Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama will face no further punishment for shoving New York Knicks All-Star Jalen Brunson in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Knicks guard Jose Alvarado took exception to Wembanyama's hard foul on Brunson, calling it a dirty play ahead of Game 4 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.