” It is the rule ! “. This is how Gregg Popovich commented on Victor Wembanyama's first career fine. For sending the ball into the stands after the snatched victory against the Knicks, the Frenchman was fined $25,000. Something to make him smile.
“Was I surprised?” » asks the Spurs rookie. “Let's just say that when I swung the ball, I remembered that some players had been fined for that. But they always throw it around for the wrong reasons. There, I wanted to please someone. That's what's fun. It’s just fun…”
A ball that immortalizes an exceptional performance
That evening, “Wemby” had his best career game with 40 points and 20 rebounds! A historic performance of which he could have kept the ball to immortalize it. But he rather wanted this ball to make a spectator happy, even if he suspected that the NBA would make him pay for “this throwing of an object into the stands”.
“After I launched it, I said to myself that it was OK… I sent it to make someone happy. It's not like I was trying to hurt anyone.” he recalls.
But as Gregg Popovich said, “ Dura lex sed lex“, and Wembanyama will send a transfer of 25,000 dollars to the NBA.
