It’s been a rough year for the NBA, with complaints about tanking, load management, flopping and commissioner Adam Silver’s soft leadership hijacking the discourse throughout the regular season and even much of the playoffs. But, just in the nick (Knick?) of time comes a fascinating Finals matchup between one of the league’s marquee teams and its brightest new star to quiet the critics (for now) and remind everyone that, yes, basketball is still fun.
Here’s a primer for the highly anticipated championship series between the long-suffering New York Knicks and Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs, which tips off tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET.
It’s Wemby’s league now
Even before he joined the NBA as the heavily hyped No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, a lot of basketball fans suspected that the impossibly skilled French giant would take over the league one day. But few expected it to happen this quickly.
Wembanyama was a star upon arrival, winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2024 after averaging more than 21 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game. But the Spurs went 22-60 and finished 14th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. The following year, with No. 4 overall pick Stephon Castle giving San Antonio back-to-back ROYs, the Spurs improved to 34-48 but still finished 13th in the West and missed the playoffs again as Wembanyama’s season was cut short by a serious blood clot in his right shoulder.
Luckily, Wemby made a full recovery and powered an astonishing ascent this season by the young Spurs, who not only won the Southwest Division for the first time since 2017 (the year after the great Tim Duncan retired) but finished second in the entire league with a 62-20 record. The big guy also took his own game to a new level, averaging career highs in points (25) and rebounds (11.5) while leading the league by a mile in blocks (3.1) despite playing fewer minutes to preserve his health. He finished third in MVP voting, and the general sense is that he’ll own the Michael Jordan Trophy as soon as next year.
In his first foray into the playoffs, Wembanyama led San Antonio past Portland in five games and a tough Minnesota team in six before the Spurs shocked back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7 of the Western Conference final on Saturday night in OKC. Along the way, the 22-year-old superstar has had plenty of help from an energetic and close-knit group of young teammates including the 21-year-old Castle (19.2 points and a team-high 6.7 assists in the playoffs) and 20-year-old Dylan Harper (13.1 points). Twenty-eight-year-old De’Aaron Fox, a veritable greybeard in this group, has come through as well with 16.4 points per game.
What makes Wemby such an incredible force is his unprecedented combination of size and skill. He’s listed at 7-foot-4 (some believe he’s even taller) but moves and plays like a much smaller man. The NBA has had its share of extremely talented giants over the years, from Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Hakeem Olajuwon to Shaquille O’Neal to Nikola Jokic, and modern big men are now expected to possess a wide array of skills. But we’ve never seen anyone quite like Wemby, who can run the court, make moves off the dribble and shoot threes like a guard while clogging up passing lanes and protecting the rim like an old-school centre. Oh, and it also helps that he can dunk while barely leaving the floor.
Looking at the playoff numbers, Wembanyama ranks a relatively modest 15th in scoring average with 23.2 points per game (tied with 41-year-old LeBron James). But he’s second in rebounding at 10.8 and his 3.5 blocks are more than double the rate of the next highest players. Plus, his mere presence around the rim has an almost incalculable effect on opposing offences. Think of how many shots and drives to the basket are either altered or not attempted at all due to the fear — real or imagined — of Wemby and his massive wingspan.
Game 7 against OKC was a great example of Wemby’s impact. His stats weren’t eye-popping: 22 points, seven rebounds, two assists and one block in 42 minutes. But his presence was felt on every possession, and even SGA shied away from attacking him in the paint late in the game. Wembanyama completely dominated 7-foot-1 Chet Holmgren, the Thunder’s best big man, who scored only four points in Game 7 (he averaged 17 this season) and played so poorly in the series that he was benched at the end of the decisive game. By the time it was over, pretty much everyone seemed to agree that Wemby is now the best player in the entire league.
Beyond his incredible skills, Wemby has connected with basketball fans in a way that the last two MVPs — the business-like SGA and the often-dour Jokic — have not. His willingness to wear his emotions on his sleeve, especially during a tearful celebration with his teammates after Game 7 against OKC, is a breath of fresh air in an era of increasingly aloof stars.
Knicks aim to end one of sport’s most painful droughts
As great a story as Wemby is, the Knicks might be just as compelling.
Since the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs ended their 86- and 108-year World Series championship droughts, Knicks fans have become the most famously agonized group in U.S. sports (Leafs fans, you have the title here in Canada). New York’s last NBA title came way back in 1973, and this is the Knicks’ first trip to the Finals since 1999, when they lost to Duncan’s Spurs. If this Knicks team can upset Wembanyama’s Spurs, it’s safe to say that basketball’s most passionate fans will unleash a celebration of epic proportions on the Big Apple.
One of the players on that ’99 Knicks team was a seldom-used guard named Rick Brunson, who played a grand total of nine seconds in the Finals. Nearly three decades later, Brunson is an assistant on head coach Mike Brown’s staff. And the oldest of his two children is the key to New York’s championship hopes.
Jalen Brunson, a 29-year-old guard who’s in his fourth season with the Knicks, ranks third in playoff scoring with 26.9 points per game and ninth in assists with 6.6. Though he’s earned three straight All-Star selections, the knock on Brunson has always been that, at 6-foot-2, he’s too small to lead a team to a championship. But he’s in position to do just that after powering the Knicks on an incredible playoff run. Since falling behind 2-1 to Atlanta in the first round, the Knicks have won 11 consecutive games (by an average of 24 points!) to bounce the Hawks and sweep both Philadelphia and Cleveland. New York has not lost a game in 42 days.
Others playing key roles for the Knicks include smooth seven-foot centre Karl-Anthony Towns (16.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists in the playoffs) and two-way forward OG Anunoby, who won the title in 2019 with Toronto and is averaging 19.7 points and 6.7 rebounds this post-season.
The Knicks are slight underdogs in the series — betting odds imply San Antonio has about a 63 per cent chance of hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. But they’re well rested after enjoying eight days off for the second straight round, while the Spurs had only three days to recover from their seven-game war with OKC. And the Madison Square Garden crowd, which is sure to be bonkers, could give the Knicks the emotional edge in Games 3, 4 and, if necessary, 6.
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