Last summer, Victor Wembanyama and a group of Shaolin monks did a walking meditation, under the cover of darkness, up to the cave near the Shaolin monastery where the founder of Zen Buddhism famously sat and stared at a wall for nine years. He practised kung fu at the temple and trained with a Shaolin master to control his preposterously high centre of gravity in times of duress. None of that prepared him for Isaiah Hartenstein. And now, one of the most physically combative players of his generation has stepped forward with the advice that no summer monastery can provide.

Draymond Green posted on Threads on Friday morning, “OKC is teaching a valuable lesson,” he wrote. “One that teams started doing against us many years ago. They can only call but so many jersey grabs when Steph runs. So people just started grabbing him. He learned to play through it and became one of the greatest ever on the biggest stages. Wemby has to learn how to play through it, because teams are going to keep grabbing and holding him. Not going to change.”

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The blueprint Green described was implemented with surgical precision in Game 2. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault increased Isaiah Hartenstein’s minutes from 12 to 27, and gave the 7-foot, 250-pound centre the primary assignment of neutralising Wembanyama. The change worked, as Hartenstein’s physicality limited Wembanyama’s paint points from 26 in Game 1 to 10 in Game 2’s loss.

Reggie Miller noted it live on air: “He has all the weight. He’s just holding, grabbing, clenching, and trying to wear on Wembanyama.” Wembanyama still posted 21 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks in Game 2. And the further adjustment from Oklahoma City in Game 3 has made the conversation about officiating and physicality the dominant theme as the series heads to a must-win Game 4 for San Antonio.

Green’s Steph Curry reference is not abstract. During the Warriors’ dynasty years, opposing teams developed a specific strategy of grabbing Curry’s jersey in transition. They knew that the officials could not call every one, and hoped to disrupt his rhythm before he could generate the clean looks that made him unstoppable. Curry’s response was that he learned to play through the contact, finish through fouls, and find ways to create regardless, which was precisely what Green prescribed for Wembanyama now. While the comparison might flatter the 22-year-old enormously, it also sets an expectation: Curry figured it out, and it became “one of the greatest ever on the biggest stages.” Green is saying Wembanyama has the same capacity and the same obligation.

“Hit Back”: What Game 3 Proved About the Physicality Problem

Green’s advice, learn to play through it, ran directly into its most difficult test on Friday night in San Antonio. Victor Wembanyama finished Game 3 with 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, and two blocks, numbers that, in a vacuum, look solid. In context, they look exactly like the limitation Green described. When De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell are outrebounding Wembanyama, it is a problem, and at his size and defensive range, four rebounds in a Conference Finals game against a team comfortable with physical engagement is not enough.

The Thunder won 123-108 to take a 2-1 series lead. And the difference was not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 26 points and 12 assists. It was the bench: OKC outscored San Antonio’s reserves 76-23, led by Jared McCain’s 24 points, Jaylin Williams’ 18 in just 22 minutes, and Alex Caruso’s 15 on 4-of-6 shooting.

The physicality debate produced its own flashpoint in the third quarter. Ajay Mitchell made hard contact with Stephon Castle on a breakaway, Devin Vassell responded with a shove and triggered a scrum, resulting in a Flagrant 1 on Mitchell and double technicals on Mitchell and Vassell. Both teams ultimately finished dead even at 33 free-throw attempts, which suggested that the standard of officiating Green implied that Wembanyama needs to stop waiting for is not arriving any time soon.

Wembanyama and SGA matched each other exactly at 26 points apiece, a statistical dead heat in a game San Antonio lost by 15. That is the problem Green’s Threads post identified, and Game 3 confirmed: on a night where Wembanyama was held to his most physically compromised output of the series, the rest of the Spurs did not compensate.

OKC won every major shooting category. From field goals to percentage, threes, three-point percentage, free throws, and even outrebounding San Antonio while generating more turnovers and committing fewer fouls. Game 4 is Sunday night in San Antonio on NBC and Peacock. The Spurs need to even the series.

Green’s lesson is simple: nobody is coming to protect Victor Wembanyama from the grabbing and holding. The adjustment has to come from within.​​​​​​