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It was all fun and games until Thursday.
The fan who stormed the court during Game 1 of the NBA Finals looking for a selfie with Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was arrested after the incident and will be banned for life from all league arenas, an NBA spokesperson said, per The Associated Press.
The spokesperson added that a second individual will also receive a lifetime ban for his role in the stunt.
The fan ran onto the court shouting “Wemby, Wemby” during the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 105-95 Game 1 victory and seemed to be attempting to snap a selfie with Wembanyama and Mitchell Robinson. However, security at Frost Bank Center quickly removed the fan from the court.
“A fan just ran on the floor and wants to take a selfie. Security quickly takes him away. Crowd gives him the appropriate boo, fortunately nobody hurt,” ESPN broadcaster Mike Breen said on air as the whole thing went down.
It seemed the Spurs young star enjoyed the scene while Robinson looked confused. Wembanyama smiled at the fan’s phone upon seeing it.
The fan entered the action with 6:32 left in the game and play was halted for roughly a minute. It came at a pivotal point for the Knicks, who erased a 14-point deficit in the third quarter and turned it on even more in the final frame.
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A new angle of the incident later emerged and showed Wembanyama’s 7-foot-4 frame hardly fitting onto the screen as the fan tried to take a selfie.
The game restarted with a jump ball.
“I’ve never been in that situation. I didn’t know how to act. It really surprised me, almost as much as that time [when] a bat crossed the court,” Wembanyama said, referring to a 2024 game against the Timberwolves.
“I don’t think it was an event at all,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said. “I thought security got him out of there. I think everybody moved on to the next play.”
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