San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama’s mission to become the best player in the world and the face of the NBA was at least temporarily derailed by the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
While the loss to the Knicks gave Wembanyama more fuel to ultimately reach his goals, he’s currently at the center of controversy due to his questionable sportsmanship during and after the Finals. NBA analyst Nick Wright shared his thoughts and called out the media’s handling of Wembanyama.
Nick Wright Calls Out His Peers For Giving Victor Wembanyama Special Treatment
During an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s “The Herd,” FS1 analyst Nick Wright blasted national sports media for their coverage of Wembanyama’s behavior throughout the season.
“The media’s coddling of Victor Wembanyama, I’ve quite frankly never seen anything like it,” Wright said.
Wright pointed out several questionable incidents from the regular season, including when Wembanyama said the New York Knicks don’t play a “sophisticated” brand of basketball and when he threw shade at the Oklahoma City Thunder by saying that the Spurs play “ethical basketball.”
“He then did something that’s never been applauded by any media pundit in sports history until he did it, which is in the midst of his team making a playoff run, he was like, ‘Hey, if I could hold court for a moment, here’s my three-prong plan as to why I am the league’s MVP and he went after Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] for not being as good defensively, said they dominated the Thunder…” Wright said.
After mentioning Wembanyama throwing an elbow at Minnesota Timberwolves big man Naz Reid, Wright moved to the NBA Finals.
“In the Finals, we had the following things happen. He throws away Game 2, throws it away… Celebrated after the Conference Finals like he won a championship because he thought he had. After Game 3, talked about them dominating the series. After Game 4, talked about them dominating the series, despite the fact that in Game 4, he said to Mitchell Robinson, ‘I’m in your head’ and then proceeded to be the face of the biggest collapse in the history of the Finals. Then, in Game 5, he gave you a nice, strong 15 minutes and then a 22-year-old ran out of gas and needed a breather, a water break, with five minutes left in the Finals.
“After all that, gave the Knicks no credit and wouldn’t shake their hands. All of that put together changes how you view a guy… All year long he was talking as if winning was a foregone conclusion and he had this wisdom to share with us then in the Finals when his team was a huge favorite and came up short, there wasn’t a lot of reflection of, ‘Man, the Knicks are better, it was our mistakes, we controlled the series.'”
“The media’s coddling of Victor Wembanyama – I’ve quite frankly never seen anything like it… All year long he was talking as if winning was a foregone conclusion.”@colincowherd and @getnickwright debate how we should view Wemby moving forward pic.twitter.com/xT6WNng8tP
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 16, 2026
The Spurs weren’t ready to clear the final hurdle and win a championship. As for Wembanyama, he shot the ball poorly in multiple games during the Finals, a costly ill-advised pass that resulted in a turnover at the end of Game 2, and missed free throws down the stretch of the Spurs’ historic Game 4 collapse.
Wembanyama has said that the main reason the Spurs lost the series was their self-inflicted mistakes. It certainly seems the Spurs phenom has received more grace than other superstars, as his poor sportsmanship and questionable comments haven’t been called out or criticized by the media at times.
MORE: ‘He’s a Crybaby’ – NBA Champion Fed Up With Everyone ‘Making Excuses’ for Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama is viewed as the next face of the NBA, and he has done some unique things like playing chess in the rain with fans while visiting New York City in 2024 and training at the Shaolin Monastery in China last offseason. This reinforced the belief that Wembanyama is humble despite his star power, which increased his popularity among fans.
Perhaps this is why he hasn’t received as much scrutiny for his actions. The narrative has changed to some degree, as more people now believe that underneath Wembanyama’s passion is a lack of respect for his opponents as well as immaturity when handling adversity. His decision not to shake hands with the Knicks after Game 5, in particular, has led to more criticism than usual.
It’s true that Wembanyama hasn’t always exhibited class towards his opponents, so Wright may be onto something about how the superstar has been coddled.
