A’ja Wilson, Hasan Minhaj, and JJ Redick (CREDITS: USA Today)
Comedian Hasan Minhaj is a veteran of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. The 38-year-old has played in three, an impressive feat, considering most celebrities get only one chance. Despite featuring thrice, Minhaj is remembered for only one infamous incident involving A’ja Wilson and he’s still seeking vindication for it.
Hasan claims that in the 2019 All-Star Celebrity Game, the WNBA superstar fouled him on a layup attempt but astonishingly avoided getting penalized. He pleaded his case to Lakers head coach JJ Redick on his ‘Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know’ show, but he shot it down immediately.
The former NBA star noted that Wilson was well within her rights to defend aggressively against him. He said, “No. It’s not a foul… She avoided your body.” Redick made it clear to him that the reigning WNBA MVP’s emphatic block was within the rules and regulations of defense in basketball.
In his opinion, she didn’t commit any foul and the refs made the right call by dismissing the comedian’s claim. But Hasan did not budge and continued to argue that he was fouled by Wilson when he was going for a left-hand layup.
When Redick asked if he could shoot with his right, Hasan said that he had an impressive right-hand layup but still decided to go with his left hand despite knowing that the WNBA superstar was about to come after him to swat his shot away. The Lakers head coach advised him to use his right hand for layups from that spot in the future to avoid getting embarrassed.
Wilson, the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year at the time, decided to stop the comedian in his tracks and blocked his layup attempt with authority. But for the last five years, Hasan has had a tough time dealing with it because the pictures of that block are all over the internet.
He has been incessantly trolled for it on social media and his pleas for absolution have been constantly turned away. Despite Redick’s rejection, the comedian is seemingly unwilling to give up. He’ll continue to seek vindication and won’t stop until someone as revered as the Lakers head coach agrees that Wilson fouled him before she swatted his layup attempt away with disdain.
