Kendrick Perkins Says Victor Wembanyama ‘Got Punked' in Game 5 Loss

Kendrick Perkins didn’t hold back with his postgame assessment of Victor Wembanyama after the San Antonio Spurs lost Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, 127-114.

Wembanyama finished with 20 points, six rebounds, one assist, three blocks, and two steals. While that’s not a bad stat line for most players, it certainly isn’t the sort of thing we’ve seen Wemby achieve in his previous games.

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Wemby got punked tonight. Isaiah Hartenstein outplayed him on both ends of the floor,” Perkins said while on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”

“He forgot that he was a big man first, with guard skills,” he said, calling out Wemby for settling for jump shots rather than dominating in the paint.

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According to Kendrick Perkins on ESPN, when Wemby “plays with force” and stays in “attack mode,” the San Antonio Spurs are tough to beat. However, in Game 5, Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams stayed on Wemby, played physical, and wore him down.

The Spurs seemed to be in the game after the first quarter in Oklahoma City, down just two points, but the reigning champions kept pushing and extended to a 69-58 halftime lead. There were some stretches when the Spurs seemed capable of fighting back into Game 5, but didn’t have enough.

The Spurs, while a highly talented and dangerous team, are also young and inexperienced, and their biggest superstar seems like he might be starting to tire from the grind of his first major playoff run.

During the playoffs, Wemby hadn’t averaged more than 29 minutes per game until this series. His time on the court has moved up to 38.8 minutes per game, partly due to his 49 minutes in that Game 1 double-overtime spectacle, but also due to playing considerably more minutes in the other games.

San Antonio is now in a 3-2 deficit, facing a must-win game when they return to San Antonio on Thursday night. They’ll need another exceptional performance from Wemby, who has had several dominant games in this series.

He may have given his best display in Game 1, with that historic double-double of 41 points and 24 rebounds, but since then, he’s definitely come back down to normal levels.

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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 8:06 AM.