After the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs defeated the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals, they will host the East’s third-seeded New York Knicks in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals on Wednesday.
The Knicks opened the betting market as +170 underdogs in the best-of-seven series. The only teams to win as greater underdogs in NBA history, per Covers.com: the 2019 Toronto Raptors, 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2004 Detroit Pistons.
The NBA Finals will for the first time in its history feature a rematch of the NBA Cup final. The Knicks defeated the Spurs in the third annual regular-season tournament, 124-113, when Wembanyama was still working on a minutes restriction off the bench.
The league must be licking its chops, what with New York, its largest media market, and Wembanyama, a 7-foot-4 self-described “alien,” who has a chance to be one of the most special talents the game has ever seen, headlining its championship series.
We will dive deeper into the previewing here at Yahoo Sports, to be sure, but to tide you over until then here are three more reasons to watch when the games begin …
It’s been a long time, New York
The Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, when a Patrick Ewing-less edition lost to the Spurs in a best-of-seven finale to a lockout-shortened season, 4-1. They have not won a championship since 1973, when Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe, Dave DeBusschere, Phil Jackson and Jerry Lucas — indelible Hall of Famers, none of whom, we imagine, ever had to pay for a drink in New York again — won a second title in a four-year span (the only two rings in Knicks history).
This is a big freaking deal. Basketball is the city’s sport. There is a court on every playground. Brooklyn was the birthplace of Michael Jordan. Harlem was home to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Long Island was where Julius Erving earned the name Dr. J.
You get the point. Basketball and New York City are practically synonymous, except for the fact that the Knicks — the NBA team that has represented the city since the league’s inception — have been a sad-sack organization for much of their existence.
Following Ewing’s departure in 2000, the Knicks went almost a quarter-century with a single playoff series win (courtesy of Carmelo Anthony’s charges). They missed the playoffs every season from 2005-10 and again from 2014-20, often embroiled in controversy under team governor James Dolan’s stewardship. Not until 2023, when this magical run with Jalen Brunson began, did the Knicks start regularly winning again.
Now, still under Dolan’s governance, with a team as lovable as that 1973 crew, the Knicks are here again. These long-starved New Yorkers are right where any fan would want to be — in the Finals, with a shot at a championship for the first time in forever. It is no wonder the cheapest ticket to Game 3 in Madison Square Garden right now, according to Gametime, is $4,112. The hottest ticket in the house? $103,364. Savor it.
Victor Wembanyama, GOAT in the making
Since a rookie Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to the first of his 11 championships in 13 seasons at the age of 22, few young superstars have taken their teams to titles in their first three seasons. The 22-year-old Wembanyama has a shot to do just that.
Go through them.
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A 23-year-old Abdul-Jabbar won his first of six titles in his second season in 1971.
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A 24-year-old Bill Walton won his first of two titles in his third season in 1977.
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A 20-year-old Magic Johnson won his first of five titles in his first season in 1980.
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A 24-year-old Larry Bird won his first of three titles in his second season in 1981.
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A 22-year-old Tim Duncan won his first of five titles in his second season in 1999.
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A 24-year-old Dwyane Wade won his first of three titles in his third season in 2006.
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A 22-year-old Kawhi Leonard won his first of two titles in his third season in 2014.
The list is short and full of all-time greats. It is filled only with multi-time champions. Often these players win a handful of titles. The sky is the limit for Wembanyama, or at least it is in this moment, which is as exciting as anything at MSG.
Jalen Brunson vs. San Antonio’s defense
Now, for the actual basketball.
Yes, Wembanyama is a nightmare matchup, especially for a foul-happy Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, who underwent surgery on his shooting pinkie finger this week. But consider the job Jalen Brunson has ahead of him against these Spurs.
It was tough for 6-foot-6 Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s back-to-back MVP, to operate against a Spurs defense that features waves of guard and wing defenders — including Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper — who are protected by Wembanyama. It is a maze of a defense that only a basketball wizard could figure.
And Brunson is that wizard. He carves his way into a defense, getting to a spot, firing off a step-back 3-pointer, a pull-up jumper or a creative layup that feels like a miracle, only it is not, because he will do it time and time again, and he will create off of that. It is really something to watch, this 6-2 brute, juxtaposed against the slender Wemby.
In three meetings this past year, including the NBA Cup final, Brunson averaged a 26-4-8 on 42/42/88 shooting splits. The Knicks finished 2-1 in their regular-season series (again, including the NBA Cup final victory), losing only by two points in San Antonio.
The Knicks should have all the confidence in the world they can beat the Spurs, even as underdogs, so long as Brunson has all the confidence in the world, and Brunson always has all the confidence in the world. It’s who he’s been since he was a kid, watching as a toddler as his father, Rick Brunson, toiled for those 1999 Knicks. What a world we live in where we get to watch this all unfold before our eyes on Wednesday.
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