{"id":565067,"date":"2026-01-27T23:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565067\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:53:14","slug":"spurs-victor-wembanyama-voices-concerns-after-deaths-of-alex-pretti-renee-good-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565067\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs\u2019 Victor Wembanyama voices concerns after deaths of Alex Pretti, Renee Good in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 After federal officers shot and killed<\/a> two people in Minnesota<\/a>, San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama offered his reaction to the shootings after practice Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, (San Antonio Spurs) PR (public relations) has tried, but I\u2019m not going to sit here and give some politically correct (statement), you know?\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cEvery day, I wake up and see the news, and I\u2019m horrified. I think that it\u2019s crazy that some people make it seem like, or make it sound like, the murder of civilians is acceptable, you know? I read the news, and sometimes, I\u2019m asking very deep questions about my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Jan. 7, an officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed Renee Good<\/a>, 37, while she was in her car in a Minneapolis neighborhood. Good\u2019s death sparked anti-ICE protests nationwide, including one in downtown San Antonio<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Over the weekend, on Jan. 24, a U.S. Border Patrol officer shot Alex Jeffery Pretti in Minneapolis. Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a Veterans Affairs officer, was 37. Both Good and Pretti were U.S. citizens. <\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has said both shootings were in self-defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m conscious also that saying everything, you know, that\u2019s on my mind will have a cost that\u2019s too great for me right now,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cSo I\u2019d rather not get into too many details.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wembanyama arrived in San Antonio from his native France in 2023. He was the No. 1 overall pick in that year\u2019s NBA Draft. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m a foreigner,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cYou know, I live in this country. I am concerned for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n

The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the union that represents current NBA players like Wembanyama, released a statement Sunday<\/a>. The union said, in part, that it \u201cmust defend the right to freedom of speech and stand in solidarity with the people in Minnesota protesting and risking their lives to demand justice.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe fraternity of NBA players, like the United States itself, is a community enriched by its global citizens, and we refuse to let the flames of division threaten the civil liberties that are meant to protect us all,\u201d the NBPA\u2019s statement continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always proud of, you know, people speaking their minds, no matter the subject,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cIt definitely takes some balls. … Each and everyone of us has to decide the price you\u2019re willing to pay.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wembanyama and the Spurs will return to the court against the Houston Rockets at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Houston. Wednesday\u2019s game will air nationally on ESPN. <\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report. <\/p>\n

More recent San Antonio Spurs coverage on KSAT: <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 After federal officers shot and killed two people in Minnesota, San Antonio Spurs star Victor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3797],"tags":[76864,7,4431,6,74375,969,474,4075,4074,534,693],"class_list":["post-565067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio-spurs","tag-alex-jeffery-pretti","tag-basketball","tag-ice","tag-nba","tag-renee-good","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sanantonio","tag-sanantoniospurs","tag-spurs","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115969759941249245","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}