NBA technically suspends Victor Wembanyama from Hawks game

The NBA has announced that it has canceled the technical error called on Victor Wembanyama with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Friday’s win over the Hawks. The call was part of a double technical given to him and DeAndre Hunter after Hunter dispatched Wemby with a high-flying dunk to tie the game. Hunter stared him down as he lay on the floor and the two began to talk as Wemby stood up.

Not knowing what Wemby said, it seemed like a cop out on the referee’s side to call the double technical when he didn’t seem to deserve it for simply reacting and not escalating things further after Hunter’s actions. Most likely the refs didn’t want a technical free throw to be a game decider so they took the easy way out when they had to call something.

Well, as it turns out, they made the wrong call according to the NBA. By overturning Wemby’s technical but not Hunter’s, the league is acknowledging that Wemby did nothing wrong, but Hunter deserved the technical. That means the Spurs should have had a free throw, then got the ball back with the lead. The result likely would have been a Hawks foul and two Spurs free throws before the Hawks would have a chance to force overtime. Instead, with the game still tied after Hunter’s tech, the Spurs turned the ball over and the Hawks had a chance to win it in regulation. Fortunately they missed and Spurs took over in overtime, especially Wemby after Hunter poked the bear and gave him an extra dose of determination.

Even though the Spurs put a lot of stress on themselves last night by not playing great defense and blowing their own shot at a game-winner with a turnover, it’s probably still a relief to the refs that they ended up winning, otherwise they would they get a lot more flack than they did for handling the double technical call instead of what should have just been a technical on Hunter, which again could have changed the outcome. Sometimes the judges are lucky too.