My grandma meant everything to me, I can’t imagine trying to play a sport at a world level right after she passed

Damn you forget how young some of these dudes are. Some of these younger guys are losing family members for the first time in their lives. So sad.

Love you Wembert

Tough man, huge props to him for playing through it. Just saw my grandma in the hospital recently and it took a huge toll on me, have no idea how he played on the biggest NBA stage in his career with that weight.

Jesus… I don’t even know if I would have the strength to play in his position

Oh God… The news keeps getting worse.

Just a few days ago he was talking to Malika in the interview about Christmas and how they used to all be together and that he won’t be able to this year.

This is beyond heartbreaking…. I can’t even. I lost my grandmother exactly at the same age he did and I was devastated for a while.

I’m surprised he even played. Must have felt a responsibility towards his teammates to try and help them win.

love you Wemby and family, sending love and condolences

Imagine losing someone then having to play in this game fuck man

Ouch. No wonder he played so distracted. Surprised he played at all.

And mfers couldn’t wait to jump on him. Thoughts and prayers to him and his family.

He’s been getting a lot of shit recently but I love how competitive he is. Wishing him all the best

It felt like his head wasn’t in the game today. A lot of people are gonna be taking back certain things they said that they regret saying now. And rightfully so.

Turns out what we all thought was a dud performance was actually a really courageous one.

Condolences to Wemby and his family.

Kinda feel like this should be private 

Dang man. That is so tough.

I have booked flights to go back to my home country in a month just to see my grandparents. As you grow older, reality starts to sink in that they are not going to be around forever and you gotta prioritize shit. I would not have the strength to go to work if my grandparents passed away. Can’t imagine how difficult it would be to play in front of a massive crowd (and millions at home) on such a day.

Seeing the mocking on the r/NYKnicks reddit towards Wemby has been disheartening

Sincerest condolences to Wemby and his family, let’s try to be nice and just remember it’s a game

Damn sincere condolences to him and his family he’s earned my respect for still playing

Bigger than Basketball

Damn man

You can tell they were close. Sorry for your loss Wemby. NBA fans support you

He had to have felt conflicted all game. All that tough, KG mentality people have been talking about goes out the window when you’re young and experience extreme grief. His family is also so supportive of him, I’m sure they encouraged him to play through it all.

oof that changes the narrative of the game quite a bit

wtf didn’t cam and pat’ spencer’s grandma just pass too?? awful 😞 i hope they’re all okay

what a champ for going out and doing his job like a pro.

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I know exactly how he feels, and I honestly wish I didn’t

I was enroute to Afghanistan when I heard my grandmother went to the ER. When I landed in country I found out she had passed.

I was supposed to be working with a SEAL team for the next six months, replacing a JTAC. Everyone (Commander, SEL, Chaplain, etc) were willing to get me on a Red Cross flight back to the US to be with me fam. My grandmother helped raise me often growing up.

I was so distraught. I had been training my whole career for this moment on what I was going to do with this team but at that time I felt completely lost.

The fact Victor even played a game during such an emotional time speaks volumes.

Both my parents were around in varying complex capacities, but I lived with my great-grandmother from the time I was 13 until I moved in with friends immediately after high school. She was 80 at the time, but moved around like someone 20 years younger. My nana meant everything to me, and a year after I moved out she passed away. I was basically a bonus son for her (she kept calling me by her dead son’s name in her last moments) and everyone loved her and kept telling me I gave her an extra five years of life by making them meaningful with my presence—which really helped me move beyond the feeling of guilt that me moving out caused her decline.

But like, ughhh, sorry for unloading… Almost twenty years later and I still think about her every day. I really feel for Wemby in this moment. I don’t know what his relationship was with his nana but my lived-experience gut reaction is to always treat it like a parent was lost. Feel better, dude.

Damn. Condolences to him and his family

Damn thats so sad. Should have sit this one out to be honest. Hope he is OK.

And he still came out and played to try to win for his team. Sorry Wemby

Probably his first family loss. Wow.

Heart goes out to him. I know that pain and it couldn’t have been an easy decision to come out and still play

God bless rip blessings to him and his family

Wow that really sucks to hear. Wishing the best for Wemby, his family, and everyone who was affected by this loss.

Also glad to see that pretty much all of the comments in this post (so far) are words of encouragement/positivity and there is none of the negativity/nonsense that was present in the PGT. Really gives me hope that for all-time greats in the future, NBA fandom won’t go insane.

Not to get off track but I have found that there is only one athlete in the history of modern sports (not including athletes who ended up being murderers or committed heinous crimes) where half this post would end up just being evil statements from evil individuals (claiming that nobody actually died, that they deserved this, etc.)

There are YouTube channels out there (these are not just randos on reddit/twitter btw) with 50-100K+ subscribers that make money saying the most heinous/evil things about LeBron. One of them in particular that I won’t name calls all LeBron fans ”subhuman scum” (his exact words) in his YouTube videos, he has said on multiple occasions that LeBron isn’t top 20 all time, he has YouTube videos where he openly tries to tie LeBron to the epstein files (which is about as evil as one can get), and has also claimed that LeBron rigs the NBA . If you just look at the YouTube comments for his most recent video, you have comments from fans claiming that LeBron isn’t top 75 all time and that he needs to die.

I say all this because Wemby appears (at least so far) to be on the all-time legend track, and I really hope that the discourse surrounding him as he progresses in his career starts and ends with basketball. Basketball-related hate is fair game and has always been fair game. But when LeBron entered the league, the amount of hate he received that went way beyond basketball into just straight evil territory. Nobody else got that level of hate where people could get 50-100K+ subscribers inciting violence and misinformation. Hoping it doesn’t end up that way for Wemby.

Prayers for Wemby and his family.

Wow, he should’ve not had to play this game, but props to him for still being there for his team in the cup. Must’ve taken real steel to go out there and still perform. I hope he gets some time to grieve

Makes sense, he didnt seem in the right headspace. Hope he doesnt blame himself too much for the loss.

Man this one hurts. I’ll never forget my GMA and when she died, I felt like we’d never recover. Poor victor. Prayers up!

I’m sorry for his loss.

Would it not have been acceptable that someone from the Spurs Media team came out and said something like ‘Victor has very recently lost a close relative and will not be appearing for the media scrutiny. The SAS will not be commenting further and ask for your understanding in this personal matter. ‘

Here’s some other guy you can ask basketball questions to.

Seems rough if he had to do media after such devastating news.

I can’t believe people were ripping him for his performance. It’s great that he even played under these circumstances.

the fact that he didnt skip the game because he wanted to be there for his team despite his gran dying speaks volume about his love for the game and his team playing pure and ethical basketball.

😭 best wishes to wemby, fuck all these haters

Fully understandable. When my grandpa died it felt like everything inside of me collapsed.

Prayers up

Heartbreaking, can’t imagine having to go to work (in an incredibly public job no less) the same day as losing someone so close

Can’t imagine trying to play a basketball game after losing your grandmother. Prayers to Wemby and his family.

Rip

Damn, condolences to him.

Oh my. I don’t know how he got through that game.

Prayers for the entire family, I pray God gives them Strength and healing in such a terrible time.

huge bummer

Aw, love you Wemby! His game was definitely off tonight.

This means a lot. I’m so sorry it happened so young for him. My grandfather was my father figure in my life and upbringing and was my world. When he was sick I took care of him and I was with him when he passed he passed in my arms. Enough said 😭

that post game match thread is not gonna age well, oof.

I can’t imagine trying to play basketball after getting that news. My grandmother passed away unexpectedly my last semester of college. I can’t even remember the days following it. If I went to class, it’s a total blank.

I could tell he didn’t feel well for whatever reason but wow this is so sad. As a lifelong spurs fan and a granddaughter who misses her grandma daily, I’m so sad to hear this. Makes me emotional. I couldn’t get off the couch for 2 weeks when my grandma passed. He’s only 21. Just a kid still

Ugh that’s awful, poor guy

Grandma’s can play such a special place in our lives….best wishes to Wemby and all the people in this thread posting so eloquently about their own families

That’s the hardest part about growing up, people you don’t really think about dying, start to

My grandmother was my best friend, and this past year ain’t been right without her. Stay strong Wemby, shit sucks 💯

Losing anyone is hard especially someone as important to you as your grandmother and especially so close to the holidays. I hope he gets to take some time and probably grieve. We love you Wemby

I couldn’t function for a couple days when my grandmother died. Can’t imagine going out and giving a shit about a basketball game after something like that.

RIP to all the grandmas. Miss you 😭

RIP

I remember either bron, wade, curry, or someone like that saying how in the finals they don’t use their phones or talk to anyone. I think players should do that more like this news could have hit him 24 hours later and I think it’d be aight ya know? The person sharing should also be more conscientious of it

Rip

That’s heartbreaking.

Love you, Grandma.

You in fact went off track but you seem to at least have gotten on the right train

I was wondering why he looked so off and not fired up like he was vs okc

RIP man. that must be tough to endure emotionally

Huge respect to Wemby, for playing the game despite of this heartbreaking situation.

Rip Wendy’s grandmother. Loss hurts man. I definitely know the felling. Prayers up to him mentally

Damn…praying for that young man’s strength and encouragement during this dark time. Losing a grandmother is a pain like no other and Christmas without her is just brutal, smh 🙏🏾🏀👽

❤️

Love you Wemby, you didnt have to play that game. Some things are larger than sports

I def have even more respect than I already had for him now. At my grandmas funeral I was the only one overrun with emotion and crying uncontrollably. I was a wreck for a while.

Wemby :(

Man it is so sad.

I lost my grandmother last year before the new years too.

It is hard, man.

RIP, grandma! A good granny and granpa can be very vital to our existence.

rip. losing your grandparents hurts.

I read, “victor w…died today”

My condolences to Wemby.

Jordan would’ve played and won.

That’s awful news to hear, especially on the day of an important game. Respect to him for still playing despite the emotional pain. My grandma is my favourite person in the world, but she recently developed dementia and it’s taken a huge toll mentally. 

Damn…

Sucks a stupid rule to keep him in award contention practically forced this young man to play a game when he should have been with his family. And maybe he wanted to play I don’t know? But I’m certain the minimum games rule was discussed between him and the spurs yesterday. RIP grandma Wemby