The NBA Finals series between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs is taking on all the elements of a drama that will one day make for a record-breaking documentary, both on and off the court.
First, the Knicks stole two games on the road. Then, the Spurs snapped New York's 13-game winning streak, only for the Knicks to pull off an epic 29-point comeback in Game 4 — the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. On top of that, San Antonio has shot themselves in the foot with costly late-game mistakes.
But right now, what's really capturing fans' attention ahead of Game 5 is a viral video from a Knicks fan who claims his family was kicked out of the Ritz-Carlton NoMad hotel at the request of Victor Wembanyama .
"We didn't even do anything like derogatory. We were just like, 'Good luck tonight, Victor.' This guy is one of the worst people in sports," the furious fan said during a livestream while walking the streets of the Big Apple. "Probably worse than any athlete that I've experienced. I can't believe this. What a scumbag! I'm flabbergasted. A nine-year-old and an 11-year-old just got kicked out of, supposedly, one of the best hotels in all of New York City."
The fan, identified as Phil Godlewski, told his followers they were staying on the 41st floor of the hotel, which has two suites. They were stunned to realize they were on the exact same floor as Mitch Johnson's squad.
According to Godlewski, his nine- and 11-year-old kids are huge fans who even own Wembanyama jerseys. But just 15 minutes after simply wishing their rival good luck, they received a cold shoulder from the hotel staff, who told them they had to pack up and leave immediately.
"He idolized this guy. How could you do this? And then they come up. I'm like, listen, I have a nine-year-old and an 11-year-old here. We were coming... Man, he was coming out," Godlewski added. "We said good luck. That's it. They're like, 'Unfortunately, we are going to have to leave.' We asked them to pull the cameras. Yeah, then we said, why don't you pull the cameras? There wasn't. There was two of them. I know, I saw them. She's like, 'There's no cameras on this floor.' We're like, 'They're right there! We see the cameras!'"
The situation went down right before Game 4, coming on the heels of serious post-Game 3 street altercations in New York that resulted in over 50 injuries and arrests, proving that tensions in this series are at an absolute maximum.
While Wembanyama has generally carried himself with incredible maturity for his age, this playoff run has brought a few blemishes to his record — including some physical, borderline dirty plays on Naz Reid and Jalen Brunson . Now, allegedly getting a family kicked out of a hotel adds another bad look.
"This is a life experience, isn't it? Like, you could talk about this the rest of your life. 'Yo, Victor Wembanyama , when he retires, yo, that scumbag got me thrown out of a Ritz-Carlton Game 4 of the Finals,'" Godlewski said. "Wow! This is, to me, this is karma. Like, this is gonna come back. He's gonna get, he's gonna blow out his knee. You know what I mean? He's tearing an ACL or something. He's done. Listen, when it happens, you're gonna see me on TV. I'm gonna be wearing orange."
If the story holds, bad karma caught up to the French phenom quickly. As mentioned, the Spurs went on to blow a 29-point lead spectacularly, falling into a 1-3 series deficit, a hole only one team in league history has ever climbed out of.
While it's completely understandable that players need absolute calmness at this stage of the postseason, this is an unfortunate situation that this family will likely remember for the rest of their lives.
Still, knowing real New Yorkers, if the Larry O'Brien trophy finally comes home after a 53-year drought, championship euphoria will replace this anger in a heartbeat.
Related: Victor Wembanyama gets pelted with eggs after Knicks' historic comeback
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
