{"id":566648,"date":"2026-01-28T17:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/566648\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:09:14","slug":"victor-wembanyama-ignores-spurs-pr-speaks-out-about-ice-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/566648\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Wembanyama Ignores Spurs\u2019 PR, Speaks Out About ICE in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama<\/a> won\u2019t keep quiet about what\u2019s happening in the world around him \u2014 no matter what his team tries to tell him.<\/p>\n

\u201cPR has tried, but I\u2019m not going to sit here and give some politically correct \u2026 every day I wake up and see the news, and I\u2019m horrified,\u201d Wembanyama, 22, told reporters after practice on Tuesday, January 27.<\/p>\n

The former NBA Rookie of the Year was talking about ICE\u2019s presence in Minnesota, where two civilians have been shot and killed by agents in the past three weeks. Overall, eight people nationwide have died in confrontations with ICE agents in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy that some people might make it sound like it\u2019s acceptable, like the murder of civilians is acceptable,\u201d Wembanyama continued. \u201cI read the news and sometimes I\u2019m asking very deep questions about my own life. But you know, I\u2019m conscious also that saying everything that\u2019s on my mind would have a cost that\u2019s too great for me right now. So I\u2019d rather not get into too many details.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: NBA Suspends Employee After Social Media Posts About Charlie Kirk\u2019s Death<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe NBA has suspended a project employee for two weeks without pay after determining his posts reacting to the death of Charlie Kirk violated league policy. \u201cThe project employee has been suspended without pay for two weeks for violating multiple NBA policies,\u201d the league said in a statement to Outkick on Friday, October 17. The [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

The most recent incident, the shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti on Saturday, January 24, resulted in the Minnesota Timberwolves\u2019 home game against the Golden State Warriors the next day being postponed<\/a>. The NBA made the decision \u201cto prioritize the safety and security of the Minneapolis community,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

For Wembanyama, who came to the United States from France in 2023, the ICE violence hits close to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s terrible,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I\u2019m a foreigner. I live in this country, and I have concerns for sure. I think there\u2019s enough detail there for now. If privately, we can discuss it maybe later, but not right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama has joined a growing list of professional athletes who have voiced their opinions over the past few weeks. Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and New York Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns have both spoken out on social media, while Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch and Warriors coach Steve Kerr have both made impassioned statements during press conferences.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Makes 1st Comments After Gambling Indictments<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNBA Commissioner Adam Silver has made his first public comments on the ongoing gambling scandal that has hit the league this week. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing more important to the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition,\u201d Silver said during the Friday, October 24, pregame NBA on Prime broadcast. \u201cSo I had a pit [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

In the WNBA, Unrivaled cofounder Breanna Stewart<\/a> held a sign that said \u201cAbolish ICE\u201d during the player intros of her team\u2019s game on Sunday, January 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally all day yesterday, I was just disgusted from everything that you see on Instagram and in the news,\u201d Stewart, 31, explained to ESPN. \u201cEveryone here [at Unrivaled] is feeling that way, one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cWe\u2019re so fueled by hate right now instead of love, so I wanted to have a simple message of \u2018Abolish ICE,\u2019 which means having policies to uplift families and communities instead of fueling fear and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tThank You!<\/p>\n

You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: Victor Wembanyama\u2019s Security Not Charged for Britney Spears Slap: Details<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tNBA star Victor Wembanyama\u2019s security team will not face charges following the physical altercation with Britney Spears. A spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told Page Six that the investigation of the incident was complete. \u201cNo charges will be filed against the person involved,\u201d the public information officer said to the outlet on [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

The NBA Players Association has also spoken out, releasing a statement<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the news of yet another fatal shooting in Minneapolis, a city that has been on the forefront of the fight against injustices, NBA players can no longer remain silent,\u201d the statement read. \u201cNow more than ever, we must 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

The statement continued, \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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama won\u2019t keep quiet about what\u2019s happening in the world around him \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[7,74,307,152,3954,6,66,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-566648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","12":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115973834354212388","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566648","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=566648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}