Spurs’ Skip Bayless hits Victor Wembanyama with ‘most overprotected player’ diss

Watching Victor Wembanyama play defense can both be a source of marvel and frustration. The San Antonio Spurs big man’s length and size allows him to tower over his opponents and even dominate them at times, but for noted pundit Skip Bayless, he believes that Wembanyama is also receiving the benefit of the doubt on most occasions, including in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.

Wembanyama was a major force on defense to start Game 5, racking up block after block against a Knicks team that couldn’t buy a bucket in the first quarter. But for Bayless, he thinks that Wembanyama gets away with so much contact on the defensive end all while benefitting from the whistle himself, as evidenced by Karl-Anthony Towns being in foul trouble throughout Sunday night’s contest.

“Wembanyama: Most overprotected player on Earth,” Bayless wrote on his official account on X (formerly Twitter).

Perhaps Bayless is also alluding to the missed flagrant foul call on Wembanyama in the early goings of Game 3 between the Spurs and the Knicks. The Spurs star flat-out shoved Jalen Brunson to the ground, with his arm extending towards the neck area of the Knicks guard, and the officials not only failed to call a flagrant, they also outright refused to call a foul.

After the game, the officials did not upgrade Wembanyama’s foul to a flagrant. This was huge in the grand scheme of the 2026 NBA Finals; if Wembanyama had been called for that flagrant on Brunson, the flagrant he was guilty of in Game 4 for inadvertently elbowing Karl-Anthony Towns would have meant that he would be suspended for Game 5 for the accumulation of flagrant foul calls.

And now, in Game 5, the referees seem to continue to favor Wembanyama; in the third quarter, he looked to be guilty of another landing spot foul, which could be upgraded to a flagrant. Should the Spurs win Game 5, his availability for Game 6 could be in danger.

The post Spurs’ Skip Bayless hits Victor Wembanyama with ‘most overprotected player’ diss appeared first on ClutchPoints.