As Victor Wembanyama damaged his reputation during the NBA Finals, Max Kellerman and Rich Paul are blaming the media.
Wembanyama entered the 2026 NBA Finals as the unequivocal next face of the NBA. He left the Finals defeated, being portrayed as a villain, a poor sport and a dirty player.
Max Kellerman and rich paul talk about how the media in the nba like to build someone up and then tear them down and now it’s happening to Victor Wembanyama. Rich Paul says that’s something Allen Iverson always used to tell LeBron James they are coming . And they came in 2010 pic.twitter.com/9xwpG8QQpg
— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Thechat101) June 17, 2026
“I don’t think people are doing it for clickbait with Wemby,” Kellerman said of the media’s flip on Wembanyama. “We like to build people up as these perfect heroes. And then, once they’re built up as high as they can go, we like to find their flaws to try to tear them down, and we enjoy both those things. But ultimately, what people really want to see, is once they’re torn down, can they rise from the ashes? That’s really what people want to see. Right now, people want to tear Wemby down, to see if he can get up off the deck so that they can really love the guy.”
Paul claimed Allen Iverson warned LeBron James that the media was going to eventually try their best to tear him down. And according to Paul, those efforts began in 2010, when James left Cleveland for Miami.
“In this case with Wemby, I guess it’s losing in the Finals,” Paul added.
There are many examples of athletes who saw their career arc begin to drop only to come back with their own redemption story. But in most of those cases, the criticism they received during the downturn of their careers was warranted. LeBron James deserved some criticism for leaving his hometown franchise to build a super team in Miami, especially through The Decision. And Wembanyama deserves criticism for his antics during the NBA Finals.
NBA media rushed to attach themselves to the person they believe will finally take the reins from LeBron James to stake their claim as the face of the league for the next decade. The media expected Victor Wembanyama to win his first championship after leading the San Antonio Spurs to a Western Conference Finals victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. And they began building him up as a champion before he got there.
Prior to the Finals, Wembanyama was portrayed as a person and player with mental and physical discipline, crediting his training with the Shaolin monks, his desire to seek the quietest room in the world, sketch statues in parks, and walk barefoot. But no media member sought to ruin that reputation just one week later. Wembanyama did it himself through an NBA Finals performance featuring flagrant fouls, dirty plays, late-game collapses, questionable press conference quotes, and poor displays of sportsmanship.
Victor Wembanyama will still likely be the face of the NBA one day. But on the biggest stage, the 22-year-old proved his maturity level is still that of a 22-year-old, and not yet ready for the pressures of being the face of the league.
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