The Spurs dropped their matchup against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at Paycom Center, falling 119-98. As OKC finally cracked the Spurs’ code after three straight losses, Victor Wembanyama and his teammates received constant boos from Thunder’s home crowd.
Following the hostile reception, it was clear that the crowd wanted blood after he made his “ethical basketball” comments last December. But Wemby brushed off their villain mentality in his postgame interview.
Victor Wembanyama Casually Dismisses Thunder’s Crowd Hostility After Spurs’ Loss
Victor Wembanyama finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder’s scoreboard with 34 points.
Wemby had already rubbed Thunder fans the wrong way with a previous comment praising the Spurs’ style as “pure and ethical basketball.” Then, in the latest game, the 7-foot-4 forward scored half as many points as the Oklahoma City guard. Taken together, those moments have put a target on the French phenom’s back.
When reporters asked about the villain treatment, Wemby kept it ice cold. “For sure,” Wembanyama said about hostile crowds giving him extra motivation. “This is what makes us better, obviously more than a team that would ignore me, this makes me better.”
Then came the money line. “The crowd… this is okay,” he said, downplaying the hostility. “It didn’t feel like that. Of course, I hear the booing. I heard one f— you, but it was just one, you know what I mean? I think it’s been more than that in other places.”
The crowd didn’t start off hostile, but once the Spurs got a few calls, the fans got louder. He called it “weak sauce.” As a rookie, he already dealt with Madison Square Garden chanting “overrated.” Compared to that, the boos in OKC didn’t bother him much.
Mitch Johnson Cosigns Victor Wembanyama’s Villain Mentality
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson echoed similar vibes postgame. Asked about Wemby handling the villain role amid his brewing beef with Chet Holmgren, Johnson stayed measured.
“Yeah, there’s so much narrative around Victor. I think he’s proven at a young age that he’s pretty comfortable in his own skin,” Johnson said.
He continued, “I think it was his rookie year. We were in Madison Square Garden, and they were chanting ‘overrated!’ and we had a tough game. We played them not too long after that on Christmas Day, and he did okay.”
“So to me, that was a pretty good symbolism of [how he handles hostile crowds]. I think he embraces all of it appropriately without putting too much energy or overdoing it,” Johnson concluded.
Though the Spurs fell to 27-13, Wembanyama’s mental game remains undefeated. And not to mention, the Thunder vs Spurs rivalry will intensify more in the coming days.
