Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs were the darlings of the basketball world when they knocked out the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference Finals. They were being showered with praise from all corners, but attitudes towards them changed during the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
Wembanyama, in particular, was criticized for some dirty plays, and he made matters worse after the Knicks won the Finals in five games. The two-time All-Star and many of his teammates walked off the court without shaking hands with the victors after Game 5. It is a decision they have been heavily criticized for, but former NBA player Robert Horry made it clear on the Road Trippin’ Show that they didn’t do anything wrong.
“People get mad at athletes when they don’t shake hands,” Horry said. “You go back, and you start like the 2000s back. Nobody shake hand. We didn’t care. We lost, we don’t want to talk to you. People like, ‘Well, that’s just not sportsmanly.’ Dude, I am mad in the moment that I got my a** whooped. I ain’t trying to be friends with nobody who kicked my a**.
“So, I don’t understand when everybody that’s never played a sport gets so upset,” Horry continued. “Oh, you didn’t shake my hand. I just lost. I don’t want to talk right now. That’s even after games. They tell us in the locker room to take a minute before you speak because you don’t want to speak out of anger. And so, when guys shake hands, I’m cool if they don’t shake hands. I’m cool they do shake.
“But me, I ain’t shake your hand,” Horry added. “I’m mad. I walked off the court.”
Well, it’s not just non-athletes who have gotten upset about NBA players not shaking hands. Michael Jordan, the greatest of all time, still hasn’t gotten over many of the Detroit Pistons players walking off without shaking hands with their Chicago Bulls counterparts.
The Pistons had beaten the Bulls in the playoffs in 1988, 1989, and 1990. The rivalry had gotten toxic over time, with the infamous “Jordan Rules” being used by Detroit. The Bulls would finally manage to break through in 1991 as they swept the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals, but many of their opponents walked off without shaking hands after Game 4. Jordan won’t ever forget what they did.
There is also an athlete playing today who isn’t a fan of what the Spurs players did. Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green expressed his disappointment on The Draymond Green Show.
“They walked off,” Green said. “That was disappointing. Bit disappointing. The reason it was disappointing is because when you go mano a mano, toe to toe, blow for blow with a team, and they get the better of you, those that become champions, look them in their eyes and say, ‘Respect, congratulations, well deserved.’ And then you go to the locker room.
“That’s what those that become champions do,” Green continued. “… If you leave the court and you don’t look me in my face and I just beat you, I actually know that I own you forever because you couldn’t even look me in the face. And so to see them walk off the court, it was disheartening. I’ll blame it on youth. I’ll blame it on lacking the leader to show them that, ‘Hey, this is what you do, not walk off.’ I blame it on that.”
A couple of experienced Spurs players like Harrison Barnes and Luke Kornet, shook hands with the Knicks. They should have urged their teammates to do that as well.
