Victor Wembanyama anthem controversy grows as Spurs, NBA and ESPN stay silent during Finals

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

It just appears that almost everyone around the NBA decided to stop talking about it.

Before Game 1 between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks, cameras showed Wembanyama standing with his arms crossed during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The image spread quickly on social media and sparked immediate reaction from fans who believed the Spurs star was being disrespectful during the American national anthem.

Others defended Wembanyama, noting that he is from France and suggesting the reaction was overblown.

Fair enough. Maybe it was. Maybe there was no intent behind it. Maybe Wembanyama was just standing there and did not realize people would interpret the gesture as a statement.

There’s a very easy way to find out.

Ask him.

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OutKick asked President Donald Trump about Wembanyama’s anthem posture while aboard Air Force One after Game 1. Trump said he had not seen the moment, then asked the obvious question: What did Wembanyama mean by it?

When OutKick informed the president that no one had asked Wembanyama about his intent, Trump said someone should ask him.

That was a week ago.

Since then, Wembanyama has been available to the media multiple times during the NBA Finals. He has been asked about basketball. He has been asked about the Knicks. He has been asked about the Madison Square Garden crowd. He has even been asked whether Trump’s attendance at Game 3 would be a distraction (although even that question was posed in a way that gave Wembanyama an escape hatch to avoid making a divisive political statement).

But the anthem? Nothing.

Not a single question asking whether he meant anything by crossing his arms during the anthem before Game 1.

That seems... odd.

It became even more odd once the series shifted to Madison Square Garden.

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

Most of the Spurs appeared to be on the court during the anthem. So this does not appear, at least from the available evidence, to have been a team-wide decision or a pregame routine scheduling issue.

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There is also another important piece of circumstantial 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 the ESPN broadcasts of Games 1-4 and noticed something different about the Game 4 presentation. ESPN used a down-the-line camera shot of players from both teams during the anthem in Games 1, 2 and 3. That's part of why many believe that Wembanyama skipped the Game 3 anthem.

But during the anthem before Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, ESPN appeared to adjust its anthem presentation. Instead of the same wider down-the-line shots, the network showed tighter solo 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 the timing is at least worth asking about. Wembanyama was shown during the anthem in Games 1 and 2. He was not shown during ESPN’s anthem coverage in Games 3 and 4. Then, after public claims that Wembanyama was not on the court during the anthem before Game 3, ESPN’s Game 4 broadcast appeared to move away from the down-the-line team shots it had used in the previous three games.

Maybe that was a routine production decision.

Maybe it was a coincidence. Or maybe ESPN didn't want to show a wider shot of the Spurs’ anthem line if Wembanyama was not in it.

OutKick reached out to ESPN to ask whether the change in Game 4 anthem coverage was deliberate, whether ESPN knew Wembanyama was not on the court or might not be on the court, and whether anyone from the NBA, Spurs or ESPN discussed avoiding wider shots of the teams during the anthem.

ESPN did not immediately respond.

That leaves the most important question for Wembanyama himself.

And yet, somehow, no one with regular access to the Spurs star appears to have asked.

OutKick/Fox News Digital had reporters credentialed and in attendance for both Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden. Those reporters attended Wembanyama’s postgame media availabilities after both games.

They were not called on to ask a question either time.

Could that be a coincidence? Of course.

But it is at least worth noting, especially given that OutKick/Fox News Digital had already reported on the anthem controversy and had asked Trump about Wembanyama’s Game 1 posture. One obvious way to resolve the issue would be to ask Wembanyama directly. The outlet trying to do that was in the room twice and did not get the chance.

That does not prove anyone was intentionally avoiding the topic. It does make the silence around the entire 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 requires.

A question.

The question is not an accusation. It is the most basic way to determine intent.

If Wembanyama says there was no message behind crossing his arms in Game 1 and no intentional anthem absence in Games 3 and 4, fine. If he says there was a message, that’s news, too. Either way, the answer should come from him, the Spurs or the NBA, not from everyone else guessing.

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

LSU was not on the court for the anthem before its Elite Eight game against Iowa, which OutKick reported and a social media post showing the missing team immediately went viral. After the game, OutKick asked head coach Kim Mulkey whether leaving the court before the anthem was a conscious decision.

Mulkey explained that it was part of LSU’s normal pregame routine and insisted it was "nothing intentionally done."

That answer didn't satisfy everyone, but at least there was an answer.

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

With Wembanyama, there has been no such explanation.

The NBA has not responded to OutKick/Fox News Digital's request for comment. The Spurs have not responded to a request for comment. Wembanyama has not publicly explained his Game 1 posture or his reported absence from the court during the anthem before Games 3 and 4.

The NBA’s own anthem policy makes the silence even harder to understand.

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

Does the NBA believe crossing one’s arms during the anthem qualifies as a dignified posture?

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

Did Wembanyama violate any league expectation by reportedly not being on the floor before Games 3 and 4?

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

None of these are complicated questions. They also are not unfair questions. Yet, the NBA, as of now, has elected not to answer them.

Wembanyama is not just another player. He is arguably the NBA’s next face of the league.

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The NBA has every incentive to market him as an international superstar, and for good reason. He is an incredible basketball player and unlike anything we've ever seen. He's 7'4", handles the ball like a guard, shoots threes and is arguably the NBA’s most imposing defensive player.

But the bigger the platform, the bigger the scrutiny.

That is especially true when the platform is the NBA Finals, when the anthem is being performed in front of massive television audiences and when the player involved has already shown a willingness to criticize the American government.

Earlier this year, Wembanyama spoke out about fatal Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents during immigration enforcement unrest. When asked about the situation, he said Spurs PR had "tried" to keep him from speaking up, but that he was not going to give a "politically correct" answer. He then said he was horrified by what he described as the "murder of civilians."

Even that previous stance doesn't prove Wembanyama was making a political statement during the anthem.

It does make it fair to ask whether he was.

Maybe he wasn’t. Maybe there is an innocent explanation for all of this. Maybe crossing his arms is just how he stands. Maybe his reported absence before Games 3 and 4 had nothing to do with the anthem. Maybe the Spurs had a routine. Maybe Wembanyama was praying. Maybe this entire thing could be cleared up in 15 seconds.

Great.

Then clear it up.

Instead, the NBA, the Spurs, Wembanyama, ESPN and much of the league’s press corps have taken the same approach.

Silence.

For those who might think, "No one asked him because no one really cares," that's simply not the case.

Fox News Digital and OutKick stories on this issue have generated significant audience interest, and social media posts about the controversy have drawn widespread reaction, which suggests plenty of people do care. Yet the league and team have declined to get their position on the record, Wembanyama has not addressed it publicly, ESPN has not answered questions about its Game 4 broadcast presentation, and the reporters with regular access to him have not pressed him on it.

People can decide for themselves whether Wembanyama’s anthem conduct bothers them. They can decide whether this is a major issue, a minor issue or no issue at all.

But pretending there is nothing to ask is ridiculous.

Trump was right from the start.

Someone should ask him.