Victor Wembanyama’s anthem controversy grows as Spurs, NBA and ESPN remain silent on Finals

Victor Wembanyama’s national anthem controversy didn’t end after Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

It seems like almost everyone around the NBA decided to stop talking about it.

Before Game 1 between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, cameras showed Wembanyama standing with his arms raised during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The photo quickly went viral on social media and sparked an immediate reaction from fans who believed the Spurs star was disrespecting the American national anthem.

Others defended Wembanyama, saying he is from France and saying the reaction is over.

It’s understandable. Maybe it was. Maybe there was no intention behind it. Perhaps Wembanyama was just standing there and did not realize that people would interpret this action as a statement.

There is a very simple way to find out.

Ask him.

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OutKick asked President Donald Trump about the standing of the Wembanyama anthem as he boarded Air Force One after Game 1. Trump said he hadn’t seen the time, then asked the obvious question: What did Wembanyama mean by it?

When OutKick told the president that no one had asked Wembanyama about his intentions, Trump said that someone had to ask him.

That was last week.

Since then, Wembanyama has been in the media several times at the NBA Finals. You’ve been asked about basketball. He was asked about the Knicks. He was asked about the Madison Square Garden crowd. He was also asked if Trump going to Game 3 would be a distraction (although that question was also asked in a way that gave Wembanyama an opportunity to avoid making a divisive statement in politics).

But the song? Nothing.

Not one question asked if he meant anything by crossing his arms during the national anthem before Game 1.

That seems… odd.

It got even weirder when the series moved to Madison Square Garden.

Wembanyama was reportedly not on the court when the national anthem was played before Game 3 or Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.

Most of the Spurs were present on the court during the anthem. So this does not appear, at least from the available evidence, to be a team-wide decision or a pre-match scheduling problem.

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There is also some important evidence from the broadcasts themselves.

During the anthem before games 1 and 2, ESPN showed Wembanyama on camera. That’s how the Game 1 controversy started in the first place.

OutKick reviewed ESPN’s coverage of Games 1-4 and noticed something different about the presentation of Game 4. ESPN used low-cam footage of players from both teams during the halftime in Games 1, 2 and 3. That’s part of why many believe Wembanyama skipped the Game 3 anthem.

But during the anthem before Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, ESPN appeared to adjust the introduction of its anthem. Instead of the same low wide shots, the network showed tight one-on-one shots of select players, including Stephon Castle, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, as well as both head coaches.

Does that prove anything?

No.

But time should at least ask about it. Wembanyama was shown during the anthem in Games 1 and 2. He was not shown during the ESPN anthem in Games 3 and 4. Then, after public claims that Wembanyama was not on the court during the national anthem before Game 3, ESPN’s coverage of Game 4 appeared to be moving away from the low-score footage it had used in the previous three games.

Maybe that was a common production decision.

Maybe it was a coincidence. Or maybe ESPN didn’t want to show the wide Spurs anthem if Wembanyama wasn’t on it.

OutKick reached out to ESPN to ask if the change to the Game 4 anthem was intentional, whether ESPN knew Wembanyama was off the court or might not have been on the court, and whether anyone from the NBA, Spurs or ESPN discussed avoiding wide-open shots during the anthem.

ESPN did not immediately respond.

That leaves the most important question for Black himself.

And yet, somehow, no one with the usual access to the Spurs star seems to have asked for it.

OutKick/Fox News Digital has accredited reporters and was present for both Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden. Those journalists went to Wembanyama for the press after both games.

They were never asked to ask a question.

Could that be a coincidence? That’s right.

But it’s at least worth noting, especially since OutKick/Fox News Digital already reported on the anthem controversy and asked Trump about Wembanyama’s Game 1 position. One obvious way to resolve the issue would be to ask Wembanyama directly. The outlet that tried to do that was in the house twice and didn’t stand a chance.

That does not prove that anyone was deliberately avoiding the subject. It makes the silence surrounding the whole story even harder to ignore.

OutKick/Fox News Digital plans to have this reporter in San Antonio for Game 5 and intends to seek another opportunity to ask Wembanyama directly.

That’s all this really needs.

Question.

The question is not to blame. It is the most basic way to determine the objective.

If Wembanyama says there was no message that caused him to cross his arms in Game 1 and there was no national anthem intended in Games 3 and 4, that’s fine. If he says there was a message, news, too. Either way, the answer should come from him, the Spurs or the NBA, not from everyone speculating.

That’s what happened when LSU women’s basketball became part of the national anthem controversy during the 2024 NCAA tournament.

LSU wasn’t on the court for a song before its Elite Eight game against Iowa, reports from OutKick and social media showed the losing team quickly showed up. After the game, OutKick asked coach Kim Mulkey if walking off the field before the national anthem was a wise decision.

Mulkey explained that it was part of LSU’s normal pregame routine and insisted that “nothing was done on purpose.”

That answer didn’t satisfy everyone, but there was an answer.

No one needed to guess forever about LSU’s intentions because OutKick asked the question. Mulkey answered it. People are then free to agree, disagree, criticize or move on.

In Black, there has never been such an explanation.

The NBA has not responded to OutKick/Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The Spurs did not respond to a request for comment. Wembanyama has yet to publicly comment on his Game 1 status or his reported absence from the court during the anthem before Games 3 and 4.

The NBA’s anthem policy makes silence difficult to understand.

The league has long required players, coaches and trainers to stand and stand respectfully during the playing of the American and/or Canadian national anthems. That raises a few obvious questions.

Does the NBA believe that crossing arms during the anthem is appropriate as a dignified stance?

Does the NBA interpret that rule as requiring every active player to be on the court for the anthem, or as dominating players already lined up on the foul lines?

Did Wembanyama break the league rules by not being on the ground before the 3rd and 4th game?

Does Commissioner Adam Silver have a reaction to one of the league’s biggest stars drawing attention for his behavior during the national anthem during the NBA Finals?

None of these are difficult questions. And they are not wrong questions. However, the NBA has, as of now, chosen not to respond.

Wembanyama is not just another player. He is undoubtedly the next face of the NBA league.

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The NBA has every incentive to market itself as an international superstar, and for good reason. He is an amazing basketball player and unlike anything we have ever seen. He’s 7’4″, handles the ball like a guard, shoots the three and is arguably the NBA’s best defensive player.

But the bigger the platform, the bigger the scrutiny.

That is especially true when the arena is the NBA Finals, when the anthem is performed in front of a large television audience and when the player involved has shown a willingness to criticize the American government.

Earlier this year, Wembanyama spoke about the shooting of people in Minneapolis involving federal agents during the violence against immigrants. When asked about the situation, he said Spurs PR “tried” to stop him from speaking, but he would not give a “politically correct” answer. He then said he was horrified by what he described as “the killing of civilians.”

Even that previous situation does not prove that Wembanyama was talking about politics when the song was sung.

It makes it fair to ask if he was there.

Maybe he wasn’t there. Perhaps there is an innocent explanation for all this. Maybe crossing his arms is how he stands. Maybe his reported absence before games 3 and 4 had nothing to do with the song. Maybe the Spurs had a habit. Perhaps Wembanyama was praying. Maybe this whole thing can be cleared in 15 seconds.

Good.

Then delete it.

Instead, the NBA, Spurs, Wembanyama, ESPN and many of the league’s media companies have taken the same approach.

There is silence.

For those who might be thinking, “Nobody asked him because nobody really cares,” that’s not the case.

Fox News Digital’s and OutKick’s stories on the issue have generated a lot of interest, and social media posts about the controversy have drawn widespread reactions, suggesting that many people care. Even so, the league and the team refused to find their place in this record, Wembanyama did not talk about it publicly, ESPN did not answer questions about the introduction of the broadcast of Game 4, and the reporters who always came to him did not press him about it.

People can decide for themselves whether the Wembanyama song bothers them. They can decide whether this is a big issue, a minor issue or not at all.

But pretending there is nothing to ask is ridiculous.

Trump was right from the start.

Someone should ask him.