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"Chet's soft, just like you" - Rashad McCants fires back at Dirk Nowitzki over Wembanyama criticism
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- "Chet's soft, just like you" - Rashad McCants fires back at Dirk Nowitzki over Wembanyama criticism
Former NBA player Rashad McCants took Victor Wembanyama's side after the San Antonio Spurs superstar got criticized by Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki before the NBA Cup semifinals game between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder last Saturday.
Nowitzki expressed his disapproval of how Wembanyama answered a pre-game question from Taylor Rooks about facing Chet Holmgren last Saturday night in the NBA Cup semifinals, saying that Wemby disrespected Chet. McCants, however, thought Dirk's comment on the NBA on Prime studio show was soft.
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Soft has been a word always associated with Dirk
It can be recalled that during the said interview, Rooks asked Wembanyama about his rivalry with Holmgren. The Frenchman responded by praising Shai Gilgeous-Alexander instead, seemingly implying that SGA is mainly responsible for Chet's success. Nowitzki felt that the sideshot from Wemby was downright disrespectful.
"I do want to say I didn't love his answer about Chet," said Dirk. "I wish he would've given him a little credit. You can say, 'Hey, they have the MVP, Shai is incredible, but Chet is a champ, and I want to play hard against him.' I didn't love that answer. To me, it was too swaggy, too dismissive of Chet."
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If you listen back to what Victor told Taylor in the interview, it wasn't really as bad as Dirk was trying to portray it to be. For McCants, it just showed and proved the longtime criticism of Nowitzki as a player - he is soft, because it looked like Wemby was merely trying to get himself ready and hyped for another showdown with his rival, and he just didn't want to give him his flowers before the game.
Wembanyama and Holmgren have been painted as rivals since their youth days. They faced off in the championship game of the 2021 FIBA U-19 World Cup, with Chet's U.S. team winning the gold medal and Holmgren taking home MVP honors. Meanwhile, Wemby got even when he beat Chet for the 2024 Rookie of the Year award. But Holmgren's Thunder won the 2025 NBA title, giving him a ring before the French phenom could win one.
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Marc Spears said Wemby is motivated by Chet's success
At the start of the current NBA season, Wembanyama was putting up ridiculous numbers as the Spurs got off to a strong start. ESPN's Marc Spears went on to say that someone from the San Antonio organization told him that Victor is motivated by Chet winning a chip last season .
"Might be Chet," said Spears about what was driving Vic's strong start. "They've been going back to under 20s, under 18 even, right? And Chet got a championship. Wemby doesn't have a championship. So I was told by somebody inside that room that Wemby is motivated by Chet. Chet having one up on him in the championship."
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If that's the case, then ending the Thunder's 16-game winning streak and knocking them out of the NBA Cup was just the tip of the iceberg. Saturday night's win was a statement from Wemby that they are in it to win it this year. But that may be looking too far ahead. The Spurs and Thunder play each other three more times in the regular season. Let's see how ready Wemby really is in taking his team to the next level.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Dec 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
