The NBA admitted on Tuesday that the referees for Game 3 between the Knicks and Spurs should have called a foul on Victor Wembanyama’s shove of Jalen Brunson in the first quarter.
NBA head of officiating Monty McCutchen joined ESPN and acknowledged that the game’s referees missed Wembanyama’s foul on Brunson. McCutchen said the league’s review is still ongoing, and it remains to be determined whether the Spurs star will receive a retroactive flagrant foul.
“I think we can all agree that a foul was missed on that play. A big part of our job is on-ball, off-ball exchanges between referees. We did a poor job of that here where we got two people on-ball and we don’t see the screening action,” McCutchen said. “... If we break down in our fundamentals, in even the smallest amounts, we have the opportunity to miss a clear foul, as we missed here.”
During the play in question, Wembanyama and Brunson were jostling for position at the top of the key on a Knicks possession in the first quarter of Game 3. Wembanyama used his left arm to shove Brunson, who appeared to be holding part of Wembanyama’s jersey, in the back of his neck, causing the Knicks guard to fall on the court.
Brunson then got up and tried to confront Wembanyama, who had already turned his focus to the next play.
Here’s a video of the scuffle:
Brunson frustrated at Wemby 😳 pic.twitter.com/0xd2HO78NV
— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2026
“We want to make sure though that when we’re impacting the game as referees, that we aren’t killing the game or stifling the game, but allowing enough physicality where players can really perform, while not letting it go too far,” continued McCutchen. “And when you get a play like this that’s on the demarcation line, there’s going to be open debate about it.”
If Wemby is assessed a flagrant one foul retroactively, he would be on the cusp of a one-game suspension, per the NBA’s playoff rules. Earlier in the postseason, the Spurs big man was ejected from Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals series against the Timberwolves and received two flagrant foul points as a result.
A flagrant one is worth one point, so if the league does decide to hand down a retroactive punishment Wembanyama would be at three penalty points in total (assuming it it is a flagrant one and not a flagrant two). If he exceeds three points in a single playoff run, he would be automatically suspended for a game.
In a postgame presser, Brunson was curt about his physical altercation with Wembanyama. “Whatever you saw is what you saw,” Brunson told reporters.
Knicks’ Jose Alvarado also addressed Wemby’s shove, calling it a non-basketball play.
“I think that’s not basketball,” Alvarado said Tuesday. “That’s something that they gotta look at. But he got away with one. That’ll be the last one.”
The Spurs snatched Game 3 of the NBA Finals in a thrilling 115–111 victory at Madison Square Garden, albeit the win wasn’t without controversy. The Knicks currently lead the series 2–1, with Game 4 set for Wednesday night in New York.
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