“A Foul Should Have Been Called”: Referee VP Weighs In on Victor Wembanyama-Jalen Brunson Incident After Experts Back Spurs Star

Just like Gotham, New York also wants a villain to rally about. And for Monday night, the New Yorkers found San Antonio's 7'4" forward center Victor Wembanyama. For one, ‘The Alien’ scored 32 points on 18 shots, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 blocks in 39 minutes.

A performance like that? In the NBA Finals? Well, that will stay with the Knicks fans for a long time. But the other thing that annoyed them was the shove to their star guard, Jalen Brunson’s head, which wasn't even given a foul. People were upset with the ref's decision, but so was the VP of referee development and training.

“Senior vice president of referee development and training, Monty McCutchen, joined @malika_andrews on NBA Today this afternoon and admitted a foul should have been called on Wembanyama's shove to Brunson's upper body. No further action from the NBA,” ESPN’s Shams Charania wrote on X.

The play occurred with 4:44 remaining in the first quarter of Monday's game. Brunson attempted to set a screen on the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama around the free-throw line, and when the center turned around, he shoved the Knicks guard to the ground. No foul was called on the play despite immediate protests from New York.

Wemby stays at two points for flagrant fouls with the foul he committed against forward Naz Reid of the Minnesota Timberwolves after he elbowed Reid in the jaw in Game 4 of their second-round series.

Following the incident, Victor Wembanyama received strong backing from several former NBA players, including Shaquille O’Neal and DeMarcus Cousins, who supported his use of size and physicality against Jalen Brunson.

“This is what you want to see from your big man. I like that move right there from Wemby,” said Shaquille O’Neal during the halftime show.

“You’ve got to let those little munchkins know… Get your little a off me. Listen, from a guy that’s won four championships, some people want to win by tactics, some people want to win by killing. You know what? You keep doing it, that ain’t no dirty play, [Tell Brunson] get your little a out the way. If I’m not winning by tactics, Ernie, I’m busting your a–,” O’Neal further added.

During Tuesday’s episode of Run It Back, DeMarcus Cousins echoed O’Neal’s sentiments and voiced his support for Wembanyama’s actions.

“Hey, I do agree with that. If I did that, they would have probably ejected me. But I’m not mad at him. I get out of the way. I’m not mad at him. Get out of the way, man. I agree with Shaq,” Cousins said.

Meanwhile, Chandler Parsons argued that the play should have at least resulted in a technical foul, if not a flagrant.

“Maybe so, but it’s still sending a message at the end of the day. It’s a lot of things that the small guards and the smaller defenders get away with when it comes to bigs,” Cousins concluded.

While Brunson declined to elaborate on the incident, offering only a brief response: “you saw what you saw,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown openly criticized the officiating and expressed his concerns about how the play was handled.

The controversy continued to generate reactions around the league, with Knicks guard Jose Alvarado issuing a warning to Wembanyama.

“I think that’s not basketball,” Alvarado said on Tuesday. “That’s something that they gotta look at. But he got away with one. That’ll be the last one.”