Draymond Green was not a fan of how Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs responded to their season-ending Game 5 NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday.
The four-time NBA champion went in on San Antonio’s young core for failing to pay their respects to New York after the final buzzer. However, Green still believes the Spurs have time to make up for their lack of sportsmanship.
Draymond Green Implores Victor Wembanyama, Spurs To ‘Congratulate’ Knicks on 2026 NBA Title
Despite being favored entering the Finals, San Antonio lost in demoralizing fashion, squandering double-digit leads in all four of its defeats. In their 94-90 Game 5 home letdown, the Spurs appeared helpless as Knicks star Jalen Brunson took over down the stretch, capping off a historic 45-point performance with his first title and Finals MVP.
New York’s championship marked its first in 53 years, serving as a momentous occasion for the storied franchise and the NBA as a whole. Still, Wembanyama and most of his Spurs teammates, except backup center Luke Kornet, seemingly wanted no part of the postgame pleasantries, as they promptly walked off the court.
Speaking on “The Draymond Green Show” on Monday, Green called out the Spurs for displaying weakness by refusing to “look [their] killer in the face.” The four-time All-Star went on to attribute the bad optics to San Antonio’s inexperience.
“To see them walk off the court, it was disheartening. I’ll blame it on youth,” Green said. “I’ll blame it on lacking the leader to show them that, ‘Hey, this is what you do. Not walk off.’ I blame it on that. Lacking the leader to show them that, ‘No, no, no, there’s a way to win, and there’s a way to lose.’ And walking off the court, not looking your killer in his eyes, ain’t the way to lose.”
Green added that it’s not too late for Wembanyama and the Spurs to tip their caps to Brunson and Co. for the Knicks’ hard-fought title victory.
“I would urge those young Spurs [to] reach out to Jalen Brunson however you can,” Green implored. “Reach out to Karl-Anthony Towns however you can. Reach out to Josh Hart, however you can. You tell [those] dudes, ‘Congratulations.'”
Draymond on Wemby not shaking hands with the Brunson after the Finals:
“Look your killer in the face… if you leave the court and you don’t look me in my face and I just beat you. I actually know that I own you forever.”
(via @Money23Green, h/t @GothamJD) pic.twitter.com/5LlB5cIvTD
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 15, 2026
As for Wembanyama, he shared after Game 5 that his frustrations stemmed from knowing that he would have to wait another regular season and playoff run before potentially returning to the league’s biggest stage.
“What I’m pissed about is that there’s probably a hundred games before we can be back in Finals,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t know how to say it in English, but I’m going to have to hold that inside of me and slow down and wait and execute for a hundred games.”
While Wembanyama’s fierce competitive spirit has been lauded in the past, many have begun to turn on the 22-year-old French phenom, taking issue with his perceived lack of professionalism.
