NBA vet Vernon Maxwell doubles down on support for Houston legend Hakeem Olajuwon following Final Four incident

The Houston Cougars did not win the NCAA championship, losing to the Florida Gators in the final. However, they pulled off an upset in the Final Four, defeating Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils.

As the team was celebrating, Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon tried to get on the court to celebrate with the team. However, he was denied by security. When a video of the incident went public, Vernon Maxwell, a teammate of Olajuwon in Houston in the 90s, came to Olajuwon's defense on X.

"Oh hell nah Dream, you need to stop being Muslim for a second and ask that guy ;What did the 5 fingers say to the face?'" He tweeted.

On Thursday, Maxwell appeared on "All the Smoke" and spoke about the incident, saying that Olajuwon should not need credentials to get on a basketball court in Houston. He said that the security guards should have known who he was.

"Yeah, you see these weird a** white folks down there in San Antonio," he said. "You know you gotta have mother f**kers knowing, damn this is Olajuwon. You gotta know who that mother f**ker is. I mean c'mon man, he don't need no credentials. I thought my boy was gonna reach up and hit the sh*t out of him like he hit me. He contained himself real well. I saw the look. You gotta know who you're dealing with."

Olajuwon is one of the best basketball players of all time and is widely regarded as the greatest player in the Houston Rockets' history. He won two NBA championships with the team in 1994 and 1995 and won the NBA MVP in 1994. He was with the team from 1984 to 2001.

The Houston Cougars had their best season since Hakeem Olajuwon was a rookie in the NBA

Hakeem Olajuwon has not played in the NBA for a long time. He debuted as a rookie in 1984, the last time the Cougars reached the NCAA Tournament final.

The Cougars reached the tournament's final in 1983, 1984 and 2025. They have not successfully won the tournament throughout their history. They came the closest in 1983 when they played NC State in the final. They entered the game as the favorite but narrowly lost the game 54–52. The Cougars went over 40 years between championship game appearances.