Isaiah Hartenstein under fire for pulling Stephon Castle's dreads in Spurs-Thunder
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Isaiah Hartenstein under fire for pulling Stephon Castle's dreads in Spurs-Thunder originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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Isaiah Hartenstein was getting noticed for much of Game 2 between the Thunder and Spurs for pushing around Victor Wembanyama.
But his most negative moment came later, when he pulled on the dreads of Stephon Castle in the middle of a play.
None of the referees noticed it enough to blow their whistles for a foul call.
And frankly, relative to just shoving Wemby around, this is an even worse look for the Oklahoma City center.
Here's what happened:
Isaiah Hartenstein pulled Stephon Castle by his dreads 😳 pic.twitter.com/caDJBpV2jg
— Underdog (@Underdog) May 21, 2026
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Even if this grab is accidental, it definitely rises into the category of illegal use of hands or excessive contact that could be whistled for a foul.
If refs determined there was intentionality to it, they could go and determine that this was a flagrant foul.
Instead, nothing happened. The league office could always look into this further, but it's not obvious that they would do that.
The reality is that it may just draw some ire for Hartenstein when this series moves to San Antonio. Plenty of fans there will be happy to boo him.