Wemby ejected in Game 4 after Victor Wembanyama drew a Flagrant 2 in the second quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The call came after he elbowed Naz Reid, ending his night in the Western Conference Semifinals and shifting the focus to how San Antonio would handle the loss of its center on the floor.
Wembanyama and Reid
Wembanyama was tossed Sunday after the officials ruled the elbow to Reid warranted a Flagrant 2. He appeared to ask, "What does that mean?" after the ejection, a brief reaction that matched the confusion around the ruling as it was made on the court.
Reid was the player on the receiving end, and the sequence came in the second quarter of Game 4. That put the incident directly into a playoff possession instead of a late-game exchange, with every decision carrying immediate weight in a series setting.
NBA Rule Book
Under the NBA’s rule book, a Flagrant 2 is assessed when contact against a player, with or without the ball, is judged unnecessary and excessive. That standard explains why the call removed Wembanyama from the game rather than leaving the foul as a lesser penalty.
The Spurs were left to finish Game 4 without one of their key players after the ejection against Minnesota. For a playoff team already in the Western Conference Semifinals, the ruling changed the shape of the matchup in real time and forced the rest of the roster to absorb the minutes and presence he had been providing before the second-quarter foul.
Game 4 in Minnesota
Sunday’s ejection is the hard turn in this story: a second-quarter elbow, a Flagrant 2, and an exit in Game 4. From there, the only facts that matter are the ruling, the player involved, and the way the Spurs had to play the rest of the game without Wembanyama on the court.
