The officiating controversies began very early in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The San Antonio Spurs met the New York Knicks for the fourth installment of the championship series on Wednesday. Barely one minute into the first quarter at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., Spurs star center Victor Wembanyama drew an extremely soft offensive foul on Knicks counterpart Karl-Anthony Towns.
While attempting to drive to the basket for a dunk, Towns originally drew a defensive foul on Wembanyama. But Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson chose to challenge the play, and the referees overturned the defensive foul on Wembanyama … to an offensive foul on Towns after review.
Here is the video of the play.
This was ruled a foul on KAT.
— The Knicks Wall (@TheKnicksWall) June 11, 2026
He now has 2. pic.twitter.com/igcpIwE2yr
The officials ruled that Towns had hooked Wembanyama’s arm on his drive prior to the contact on the dunk attempt. But it certainly looked like Wembanyama reached in on Towns first, resulting in the two getting tangled up.
The offensive foul was Towns’ second of the game, meaning that he had to sit for most of the quarter from there. Fans were also incensed because Towns’ first foul seemed like a very questionable one drawn by San Antonio’s De’Aaron Fox as well.
The game JUST started and the refs already trying to foul out KAT
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) June 11, 2026
Fox RAN INTO KAT pic.twitter.com/2uO6MA3wav
Whether justified or not, Wembanyama is quickly developing a reputation for favorable treatment from the referees. Among some other incidents, Wembanyama already managed to draw a very soft technical foul on Knicks big man Mitchell Robinson in Game 2 and also got away with a dirty play on Knicks star Jalen Brunson in Game 3.
