The 2026 NBA Finals have arrived, and basketball fans are in for a treat as the young-gun San Antonio Spurs square off against the New York Knicks in a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, the last time the Knicks found themselves on this stage.
New York's luck turned around after acquiring Jalen Brunson, who has become one of the best scoring guards in the NBA's current era, despite his lack of elite speed and athleticism. The Knicks have had a unique path to building a contender, piecing their roster together meticulously yet having no original draft picks in their starting lineup. In fact, the only regular rotation player who is a career Knick to this point is Deuce McBride.
The Spurs, conversely, have had as good a track record in the NBA Draft Lottery in recent years as a team can. They won the right to draft Victor Wembanyama, the most highly-touted prospect coming into the NBA Draft since LeBron James, in the 2023 NBA Draft. NCAA Champion and rookie of the year Stephon Castle fell right into the Spurs' laps the following year. And in 2025, they landed the second overall pick and the relatively easy decision to take Dylan Harper. The rise has been meteoric and rather unprecedented, but they have earned their way here; it has not been given.
Two different ways of building championship-caliber teams; two completely different superstars leading the way. But who does the edge go to? Only time will tell, but it is shaping up to be a great NBA Finals.
The Spurs have a lot of offensive talent that generally fits well together, but a few things hold them back in this matchup. Styles make fights, and the Spurs have yet to go against the defensive personnel that the Knicks are rolling out, and it can lead to some major issues in this series.
The Spurs offense begins with their guards trying to find their way to the key, which opens up all avenues to attack with Wemby posted up closer to the basket. They have four guards who can all pull up and hit the mid-range jumper, or they can just throw the ball up in the general area of the backboard and assume that Wemby will come down with it and score the bucket. They usually have at least four capable shooters on the floor at all times to take advantage of Wemby’s gravity, so they are always a threat to get hot, but they also have the ability to go cold. It is an almost fool-proof formula against most NBA teams, but the Knicks have the right blend of guys to make that initial penetration pretty difficult.
It will be imperative for Victor Wembanyama to take on some of that initiator role and start running the offense himself to free up his teammates. Against the Thunder in the Conference Final, Wemby was given on-ball duties more and more as it was obvious they needed everything he had to get over the defending champs. That same approach will go a long way against this Knicks team, but he still is going to need some offensive creation to come elsewhere and the Knicks are well-suited to not allow that.
The Knicks have proven that a more than just sustainable defense can be built out of a five-man rotation that features both Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks have been one of the better defensive teams throughout this postseason, relying on forceful perimeter defense and surprisingly adept interior defense from Towns when he is staying out of foul trouble. They can bruise and batter teams, and over the course of a game and long series, can really wear down their opponent.
OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges have basically every advantage defensively, and no team in the Eastern Conference has been able to figure it out for a very long time. While Towns and Brunson have their limitations, their wing defense is elite and versatile and could give San Antonio a matchup they haven't seen yet this postseason.
While the Knicks' defense is imposing, the Spurs have put together a one-of-a-kind unit thanks to transformative defender Victor Wembanyama and their versatile guard defenders. For the last month, they have sucked the life out of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Oklahoma City Thunder, leaving very few doubts as to who the best player in each of those series was, and now a popular pick as the best player in the world. When Wemby is in his spot and in the zone, teams are lucky to even get the ball near the hoop.
The rest of the Spurs play their position along the perimeter perfectly, knowing if they make a mistake, the greatest equalizer in the history of the sport is there to back them up. The term "one-man zone" has been adopted to describe the way the Spurs are defending. Essentially giving Wemby free access to the paint and post and letting the other four guys fill in accordingly to leave no gaps. For dribble-drive offenses like both the Wolves and Thunder, without other means to generate points, there is just no hope of emerging victorious four out of seven times when the Spurs can do what they want to do.
In their regular season matchups and in the NBA Cup Final, none of the Spurs guard quartet proved they could keep Brunson from getting to his spots. If Wemby can meet him there, that makes all the difference, but his ability to get there consistently helps the Knicks more than it helps the Spurs.
The Spurs' defense is elite, but this Knicks' offense has been hitting on all cylinders since game four of their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, where their 11-game win streak began. The Knicks have a 123.3 offensive rating during this playoff run, and are scoring 5.8 points more per 100 possessions than the second-place Thunder, and the Spurs find themselves third with an offensive rating of 115.4. That nearly 8-point difference between the two offenses is massive.
Running the offense through Towns should help the Knicks know pretty quickly how the Spurs plan on defending them. Before, the Spurs would just not pay much attention to Josh Hart, and Wemby's favorite spot as a roamer around the paint was there for him to occupy. Now, even though Hart will still be on the court, it is Towns who gets to make the decisions instead of decisions being made for him, and that adds another variable that the Spurs have to defend.
If Wemby is not guarding Towns from the perimeter, nobody is stopping him from shooting over the Spurs' heads every possession. If Wemby does step out, the Knicks have all their back-door cuts available to them. Whoever collapses to the paint will then leave a willing shooter open for the Knicks to cash in. This is the exact type of offensive system and design that can really give the Spurs' defense fits, even one led by an alien.
Mitchell Robinson plays a critical role for the Knicks as an elite offensive rebounder and a very good lob threat around the rim. When the news came out that he had broken his right pinky finger and would require surgery, it was a big blow and the Knicks did not even know who they would be facing yet. And now they know they are playing the Spurs, the matchup they would theoretically need more of him in as they try to solve the Victor Wembanyama issue.
Reports are that Robinson plans on playing through the injury, but just how effective he is in his minutes is going to be a huge factor for the Knicks in this series. Nobody is expecting him to contain Wemby, but his strength advantage and the areas he excels on the basketball court are crucial components to making Wemby work harder.
If Robinson is not able to provide his signature rebounding because his hand is bothering him, the Knicks are going to have to search for answers fast and may have to deploy a lineup that sees OG Anunoby at the five-spot when Karl-Anthony Towns hits the bench. For someone who has averaged less than six points per game the last three years, it is no hyperbole to say that Mitchell Robinson's effectiveness can swing the entire NBA Finals.
The Knicks have to be comfortable living two realities of the same world. At some point, going with another big man alongside Karl-Anthony Towns is necessary to leverage physicality and change the scene for Wemby. They also have to realize that the Spurs invite that because it makes Wemby's assignment easier on the defensive end.
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs are going to do everything they can to make sure he can stay roaming around the paint and steering the Knicks drivers away from the rim. With two centers on the floor for the Knicks, Wemby is able to have that luxury built in for him. The Knicks should have more answers to combat that than the preceding Oklahoma City Thunder did because they have more reliable shooting and ball-handling.
How the Knicks continue to conjure up offense through Towns from the perimeter and hunt good shots while Wemby is at least somewhat out of their reach are going to be some of the most important minutes in this series.
Victor Wembanyama is going to need his guys to come with him if the Spurs are going to lift the trophy. Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, De'Aaron Fox, and Dylan Harper have to raise their game another notch from where it has been to keep up with a Knicks offense that is outpacing all other playoff competition right now.
The issue for the Spurs guards is that they are going up against a hulking defensive trio on the wings that are lab-built to defend them. Vassell and rookie Harper are not going to have a fun time trying to run through OG Anunoby or Josh Hart, both of whom have the resounding strength advantage over the Spurs guards, and they are probably both faster, too. Or they could see the amphibious length of Mikal Bridges and have to try to finagle their way through his elasticity. Just not going to be easy.
De'Aaron Fox looked a lot more spry towards the end of the Western Conference Finals, and with another few days to rest his ankle ahead of the Finals, being able to go at full speed would be a major revelation for the Spurs. Fox is fast enough to take any of the Knicks' wings off the dribble, but if he does not get the corner he is looking for, he will not have the strength to try and work over the Knicks wings in the possession game.
Stephon Castle has the size and strength to at least take on Hart and Bridges. Anunoby would be the best matchup for him, but he is also going to spend his fair share of time exhausting energy by guarding Wembanyama. The Spurs coaching staff is going to have to scheme up ways to get Castle onto Hart/Bridges for their best chance at sustained dribble penetration. There is no great place for Jalen Brunson to hide against this Spurs starting lineup, so that is the chess match the Knicks are going to need to figure out defensively and where they want to sacrifice on that end of the floor.
The Knicks win because their offense has ascended to new heights, and what they have built is far more sustainable than a simple hot streak. But just as many things are in this world, it is all about timing, and when it all clicked, the train had not stopped rolling.
Anunoby will not be a forgotten man amidst all of the rightful praise that Brunson and Towns garner. OG Anunoby is one of the premier playoff performers in the NBA today. He is relentless on both ends of the floor, and on top of his tenacity, he is incredibly skilled on both ends of the floor as well. He is the perfect bailout option on offense because he can attack at all three levels, and he is capable of being the best player on the floor on any given night. He is a very rare type of player, and one the Spurs simply do not have to match him.
In many ways, Karl-Anthony Towns is the key to this series. What he is doing on offense has unlocked a new level to the Knicks, and they have to remain on that level to beat the Spurs. If he gets forced off the floor due to foul trouble, the Spurs will have the Knicks right where they want him. Mitchell Robinson being compromised to a certain degree makes that situation even more dire.
The Spurs win because Victor Wembanyama is an inevitable force of nature that has already taken over the basketball universe. What he is doing in his first playoff run, at just 22 years old, is unbelievable. Sure, he towers over quite literally everyone, but the polish and the way he moves challenge all historical thinking of what a human should be able to look like in the everyday, let alone what they can do on a basketball court against the best athletes in the world.
Wemby is going to know his assignment on offense, attack Karl-Anthony Towns as much as he can until he gets into foul trouble or forces a switch. If Towns hits the bench, Wemby will just keep going to the basket, and if he gets a switch, he will just rise up over the top for practice jumpers.
On the other end, he will deter all Knicks ball-handlers from walking into his space, putting more pressure on their role players to hit shots. If they figure out something that works a little better than it did in the regular season for how to slow Jalen Brunson down, even just a little bit, the Knicks are going to be searching for answers they are likely to never find.
The New York Knicks are going to win the NBA Finals in six games and hoist their first Larry O'Brien trophy in 53 years, exacting revenge for their loss in the 1999 Finals to a Spurs team led by a 22-year old phenom of their own. In winning the championship, they will also be the first team to be both the NBA Cup Champion and Finals Champion in the same season.
Jalen Brunson is going to put himself in rarified air, being a small guard who led his team to the championship. Karl-Anthony Towns will cement his own legacy as a surefire future Hall of Famer. OG Anunoby will be in discussions for the most impactful two-way star the NBA playoff stage has seen since his former teammate, Kawhi Leonard.
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