NBA fines Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama for tossing ball into stands

NEW YORK — Victor Wembanyama’s celebratory tossing of a basketball into the stands was expensive.

The NBA fined the San Antonio rookie $25,000 on Sunday for the act, which got here on the finish of Friday’s 130-126 extra time win for the Spurs over the New York Knicks.

Wembanyama caught an extended cross for a steal on the sport’s last play, wrapped his arms across the ball, high-fived a courtside fan after which tossed the ball a couple of rows into the group.

He had 40 factors, 20 rebounds and 7 assists within the sport. It was the primary such stat line by an NBA rookie since 1974.

In the meantime, guard Jalen Brunson had the second-highest-scoring sport in Knicks historical past with 61 factors, and a ball boy working the group’s bench sprinted as much as retrieve the ball from the fan who caught it as a result of it was a priceless piece of memorabilia.

Based on ESPN Stats & Data, it marks solely the second time in NBA historical past that one participant had a 40-point, 20-rebound sport and one other had a 60-point sport. The opposite occasion got here in 1961, when Elgin Baylor scored 63 factors and Wilt Chamberlain had 78 factors and 43 rebounds.

Wembanyama, the No. 1 total choose in final 12 months’s draft, is the consensus favourite to win Rookie of the Yr. He’s averaging 21 factors and 10.5 rebounds this season.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and The Related Press contributed to this report.