Sports

The NBA Banned Two Fans for Life for Trying to Take a Selfie

By Curtis Jones · June 5, 2026

The 2026 NBA Finals opened Wednesday night at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. The New York Knicks won 105-95. And before the night was over, two people had received lifetime bans from the NBA — one of whom spent the fourth quarter of Game 1 sprinting across the court toward Victor Wembanyama with a phone in his hand.

The NBA announced Thursday that both fans have been permanently banned from all NBA events after a juvenile ran onto the floor during the fourth quarter of Game 1 and attempted to take a selfie with Wembanyama before security intervened. The second fan’s ban was announced simultaneously. The circumstances of the second incident were not fully detailed in the league’s announcement.

The court run — on the biggest stage in basketball, in the fourth quarter of a Finals game, targeting a 7-foot-2 French phenom who is playing in his first championship series — is the kind of thing that generates immediate debate about arena security, the parasocial relationship between fans and athletes, and what level of consequence is appropriate for the fan who crossed the line. The NBA answered that question quickly. Lifetime ban.

Wembanyama, for his part, played 38 minutes and finished with 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 blocks — the kind of debut performance in the NBA Finals that confirms everything scouts said about him when the Spurs selected him first overall in 2023. He is 22 years old. He is in his second NBA season. He is playing in the championship round. And someone tried to take a selfie with him during it.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 31 points and 8 assists in the Game 1 victory, demonstrating the quiet, relentless efficiency that has carried New York through 11 consecutive playoff wins without a single series going to Game 5. The Knicks have not won an NBA championship since 1973. They are four wins from ending that 53-year drought.

Game 2 is Friday night in San Antonio. The Spurs, at home, will be looking to even the series before it moves to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 on June 8 and 10.