Category: NBA

48ish hours later and still feeing . . . altered. In a good way.

The best way. Saturday night, millions of Knicks fans finally caught that dragon we been chasing most if not all our lives. I’m still kinda in a daze. You?

I bring it up because for this mailbag invite, I need you to know I could not care less about any “break up the Knicks” questions. Giannis Antetokounmpo did not appeal to me as a trade rumor during the season; he sure as shit don’t now. Got an idea for how the Knicks can turn Mikal Bridges into Dylan Harper? Keep it to yourself. I. Do. Not. Care.

S’cool if you do. But the New York Knickerbockers have been champions for not yet 48 hours. Far as I’m concerned, they can give everyone on the roster a 5-year extension on top of wherever their contract stands now and I’m good with it. These people did it! They did the thing! What comes next isn’t just another sunset. This is a cosmic event streaking across the heavens. I will follow its light so long as any one single photon of it remains.

(Not to mention these Knicks are as well-positioned as any of the NBA’s Great 8 2019-2026 champs to break the streak and repeat. I think OKC this year is the only one of that lot to even make the conference finals the next season. I don’t bet on sports, but if I did I’d bet on NYK joining them next spring.)

(Also I’m gonna try “NYK” for a bit as a proper noun. The Knicks don’t really have a ton of nicknames. Like, the Mets are the Metropolitans, the Amazins, the Metsies, the Miracle Mets. The Yankees are the Yanks, the Bombers, the Bronx Bombers and the Pinstripes, as well as the Damn Yankees across vast swaths of this land. The Giants have G-Men and Big Blue, the New York Football Giants and, once upon a time, more so, the Jints. The Rangers are both Blueshirts and Broadway Blues.

And yet, besides New York, Knickerbockers and some syntax featuring “blue” and “orange,” there’s not much to do with the Knicks. So I’m giving NYK a 10-day contract. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.)

Wanna talk draft? Or pros potentially on the move who you think would work added to the mix? That works. The rest of the NBA? These Knicks in a historical context? Summer ice cream shop go-tos? Bring it. Commas versus dashes when setting off an appositive? Maybe a bit narrow for a Knicks mailbag. But it never hurts to ask.

The comment section awaits. Dive in. The water is champagne.

The Finals are over, and the Spurs lost. If you could describe how you feel about how they went in one word, what would it be and why?

Marilyn Dubinski: The first word is “excruciating,” considering how easily the outcome could have been reversed if the Spurs simply could have executed down the stretch of games. But I made the decision that I would not allow myself to enter a state of 2013 sports depression, and there really isn’t a need to. This was not a case where they had a championship in the palm of their hands because they never even led in this series.  Combine that with a good social media cleansing over the weekend (as in staying off it), and I switched to relieved that it’s over and ready to see what the future brings. After spending all of the last two weeks with stomach knots, I’m just happy to feel normal again.

Mark Barrington: It’s a mixture of feelings. The word I’m looking for is ambivalence. I’m grateful that the Spurs made it to the finals a few years before I thought they would be ready. I’m disappointed that they couldn’t finish games and make the finals last longer. Paradoxically, I’m a little glad it’s over. All of these close games that ended the same way were tough to watch, and I was emotionally drained by the end of the series. And if I feel that way, a guy who just watches the game on TV, I can’t imagine how it’s affecting the players and coaches. Hopefully they will take this as a challenge to learn how to finish games with more force and poise, because that was the reason why they lost in five games.

Bill Huan: Bittersweet, the perfect word to capture both ends of my emotions. Bitter because the finals were decided by razor-thin margins that were preventable, but sweet because the Spurs exceeded the expectations of the wildest optimists. It’s strange because many fans (including myself) would’ve felt better had they lost a competitive series against the Thunder, but I guess that’s both the gift and curse of expectation. If you told someone before the season that they’d lose in the finals, everyone would be elated. But since they actually made it there, the expectations had been blown through the roof, thus making a loss feel somehow disappointing. Overall, though, this season was absolutely an A+. 

Jeje Gomez: As the Finals were happening, the word was “enraging.” It just wasn’t fun to watch the Spurs shoot themselves in the foot over and over. The Knicks were great when it counted and deserve the title, but San Antonio made things easier for them by making avoidable mistakes at every level. Now that it’s over, the word would be “relieved.“ Instead of focusing on the bad, because that was what determined who won, it’s now possible for me to focus on all the good from the season and on the future, which should be bright.

Did the bitter end detract from how fun the season was, or do you still consider 2025/26 a resounding success? 

Dubinski: It’s easy to go into a series and say “whatever happens, I’m proud of this team,” but when the games actually play out, those wide-view feelings go away.  It’s certainly not fun to be the team the modern Knicks finally got a championship against, but again, when you get out of the moment and away from the toxicity of social media, it’s much easier to return to that wide view and appreciate everything they did this season.  None of us came in expecting a finals run, and barring a win, they couldn’t have asked for a better experience out of this season. It was still a huge success.

Barrington: Emotionally, it was hard to take, but rationally, the team performed way above my expectations. It looks like the prelude to a dynasty, but you can’t take that for granted. The team has to improve on many fronts, starting with strengthening the roster so that Wembanyama doesn’t have to carry the team in the playoffs by playing 40+ minutes per game. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the offseason before I declare it a faultless success. 

Huan: I don’t think those are mutually exclusive things, as I feel both disappointed by the finals but also elated with how the season went as a whole. As mentioned above, expectations change everything. Once you’re in the finals, no one is thinking about how much the team exceeded everyone’s hopes since they’re only focused on winning the title. To not have that happen is obviously heartbreaking, but once you take a step back, it’s obvious how much of a resounding success this season really was. 

Gomez: As soon as a team looks like a contender and reaches the Finals as a favorite or even with a fighting chance, success is determined by whether they win the title or not, in my eyes. The Spurs didn’t, so I can’t say the season was a resounding success. At the same time, reaching the Finals is extremely hard, and the season, for the most part, was extremely fun, so while how it ended did leave a bitter taste in my mouth, it was still better and more enjoyable than any season in the last 10 years, which means something.

How confident are you about the Spurs’ chances of making it back to the Finals next season?

Dubinski: I’m certainly confident they can do it again, but that’s a lot easier said than done. Despite five championships, the dynasty Spurs only made consecutive finals once, proving how hard it was even with just one or two other contenders to deal with. Meanwhile, we’re in such an age of parity that the last team to make consecutive finals was the Warriors in 2019 (their fifth straight).  Since then, each Finals has featured two new teams from the year before. Can this young team be the 2014 Spurs and ride the pain of a loss back to the finals, and even a championship, or will the decade of parity continue?  It’s hard to know right now, but it’s going to be a lot harder to get there compared to this year because they now officially have a target on their back and will no longer be underestimated.

Barrington: If they draft the power forward they need to fix the glaring hole in the roster or acquire one by trade or free agency, I think the chances are extremely high, assuming all of the key players stay healthy. Health is impossible to predict. I think that Wembanyama comes back stronger and more consistent next season, and Castle adds more to his game. Harper will play as much as Fox, and Vassell and Keldon Johnson will benefit from their playoff experience. The future is bright, but nothing is guaranteed. The Spurs got a taste of how hard it is to win a championship this season, and if they learn the right lessons from that, there’s no stopping them.

Huan: They are certainly capable of doing it, but I won’t be betting on it happening. We all need to remember that the Thunder aren’t going anywhere, and they managed to take the Spurs to a Game 7 even while playing most of that series without their second and third best ball handlers. It’s not even a guarantee the conference will come down to OKC vs San Antonio when factoring in the depth of the West and potential injuries. No single team should have higher odds to make the finals than the rest of their respective conferences, and it’s already a positive that the Spurs are one of the favorites going into next season.

Gomez: I’m confident they’ll make the playoffs as a high seed, health permitting, but anything beyond that is impossible to predict at this point. The roster has issues. We can expect internal development from a lot of guys, but improvement is not always linear, so how much better the young guys and even Mitch Johnson will be is a mystery. We also don’t know what the opponents will look like. I would go as far as saying that, right now, before the offseason, they seem like a safe bet to make the Conference Finals, but that’s as far as I’d go.

The Knicks’ first NBA championship in 53 years had a local flavor.

Traded deadline acquisition Jose Alvarado, a Brooklyn native, offered his Christ the King in Middle Village, Queens coach a moment of reflection nearly a decade after the freshly minted champ played for him.

“I wasn’t thinking in this picture that Alvarado would one day win an NBA Championship. I was probably telling him to stop sneaking into the corner and get back on defense,” Joe Arbitello wrote on Instagram. “Proud is an understatement. This kid is a product of doing things the right way.”

Arbitello described some of the characteristics that make Alvarado such a successful player, noting his loyalty was notable, as he stayed at Christ the King and played for just one AAU team throughout his amateur career in what is a rarity, especially in this era.

The loyalty extended to his college decision, as he picked and stuck with Georgia Tech for his entire college career.

Another trait described by Arbitello was that whenever he was on the bench, Alvardo was always engaged in the game and never moped.

The coach recalled the young point guard telling him from the bench that he was “getting paid to have the best seat in the house.”

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That quote proved somewhat prophetic as Alvarado became one of the Knicks’ first bench options after coming over from the Pelicans on Feb. 5.

His addition proved critical to the team’s championship run as he drained critical three-pointers during comebacks in Games 4 and 5 and gave star Jalen Brunson crucial rest by playing quality minutes. 

Now, Christ the King, which boasts the likes of Lamar Odom, Jayson Williams, Speedy Claxton, Sue Bird, Chamique Holdsclaw and Tina Charles among its alumni, has another NBA champion among its graduates.

The New York Knicks waited 53 years to raise another championship banner. When the moment finally arrived Saturday night, Jalen Brunson delivered the type of performance that cements legacies.

Victor Wembanyama, meanwhile, left many talking about something entirely different.

Following New York’s five-game NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs, longtime broadcaster Dan Patrick offered a blunt assessment of how the two superstars handled the spotlight.

“I think Wemby got exposed in a variety of ways here,” Patrick said. “I think he came off as petty. I think he came off occasionally as a guy who would give a cheap shot. I didn’t like sort of how he ended the series. Go find Jalen Brunson. I mean, Jalen Brunson was all class.”

Patrick’s criticism stems less from Wembanyama’s performance and more from how he carried himself during the series.

The Spurs star faced scrutiny for several heated exchanges with Knicks players, including Mitchell Robinson, a controversial shove on Jalen Brunson and criticism after leaving the floor without the same visible postgame sportsmanship that Brunson displayed.

While many viewed those moments as the frustration of a 22-year-old superstar learning on the biggest stage, Patrick saw them as signs that Wembanyama’s maturity and leadership still have room to grow.

To Patrick, the contrast with Brunson could not have been sharper.

As the final seconds ticked away in New York’s 94-90 championship-clinching victory, Brunson first sought out Spurs coach Mitch Johnson for a handshake before joining his teammates in celebration. It was a small gesture, but one that reinforced the reputation Brunson has built throughout his rise from overlooked free agent signing to Finals MVP.

The Knicks star backed up that sportsmanship with one of the greatest championship performances in franchise history. Brunson scored 45 points in Game 5, tying Michael Jordan for the most points ever scored on the road in a Finals-clinching victory. He finished the series averaging 32.6 points and earned a unanimous Finals MVP vote.

Wembanyama’s production was impressive as well. The 22-year-old averaged 27.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.3 blocks during the series while leading San Antonio to the Finals in just his third NBA season.

But several analysts pointed to flaws in his offensive game that became apparent late in the series. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor noted Wembanyama’s struggles creating his own shot, his tendency to settle for jumpers and moments where veteran Knicks center Mitchell Robinson physically overwhelmed him around the basket.

None of that changes Wembanyama’s enormous long-term potential. He finished third in MVP voting and helped guide the Spurs to 62 wins and a Western Conference title.

Still, as Patrick noted, the Finals became a reminder that talent alone isn’t enough.

Brunson left the series with a championship, a Finals MVP trophy and praise for his leadership.

Wembanyama left with valuable lessons and a long offseason to answer the criticism.

To his credit, Wemby recognizes this as a time of learning, despite not currently understanding what lessons he is learning;

“This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment, Wembanyama said during the post-game press conference. “I can’t tell you exactly what the lesson is. But we’re learning from that. I’m learning more than any other time in my life.”

Knicks owner James Dolan’s joke about giving up sex during the NBA playoffs has been revealed.

“I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks,” Dolan told the Knicks before the playoffs on Apr. 3. “You don’t have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks, but like Spartans — do you know what Spartans are? — they denied themselves to gain an edge. Get the edge.”

The joke was part of a 15-minute surprise speech Dolan gave to the Knicks about making sacrifices to end the Knicks’ 53-year title drought.

Dolan, who oversaw the Knicks in 1999, told players to tell their significant others and family members about the commitment they would bring to the NBA Finals and that they, too, would need to make sacrifices to win.

“Go home, talk to your wives. Don’t tell them you’re not going to have sex, and don’t tell them it was my idea,” Dolan said. “But let them know what this is going to be like, what your commitment is going to be like.”

According to SNY, the players “were a little surprised, but the words hit.”

They were certainly memorable to at least some of them as Mikal Bridges referenced the no-sex joke during an Instagram live on Monday, calling Dolan a “savage” for the gag.

Two months removed from the speech, the sacrifices the Knicks made paid off, as they won their first NBA Finals since 1953.

“Hey, New York, I’m sorry it took so long, but here we are, and hopefully it won’t take that long again,” Dolan said.

Apparently, Jalen Brunson, the Knicks, and New York fans were not done with Victor Wembanyama.

Less than 24 hours after they beat Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs for their first NBA Championship in 53 years, they were celebrating at Fishfly, a private Manhattan club, Page Six reported. Video from @SMHighlights1 shows The NBA Finals MVP with teammates, family, friends and fans raising a glass with the salute of "(Expletive) Wemby!"

Knicks fans had been saying it for a week.

They started in Game 3 on June 8 after Wembanyama shoved Brunson in the back of the head and pushed him toward the floor with no whistle. Late in the second quarter, when Karl-Anthony Towns was at the line, "(Expletive) you Wemby" rolled down from the Madison Square Garden upper decks and onto the broadcast. The league looked at the shove later and called it a foul, not a flagrant.

Game 5 gave New Yorkers even more fuel to the fire.

Brunson rose for a 3-pointer in the third quarter. Wembanyama closed in, stuck a foot under him, and Brunson came down on top of it. No call. The Knicks bench came unglued at the officials. Had it gone down as a flagrant, however, Wembanyama would have been hit with an automatic suspension and would have missed a possible Game 6.

It didn't matter in the final score. Knicks won 94-90 in San Antonio. Brunson dropped 45, and the Knicks were celebrating their first title since 1973.

Wembanyama didn't hang around to see it. He walked straight off the floor and into the tunnel, looking to forget the Spurs' collapse.

The Knicks and New York will not let him forget.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jalen Brunson, Knicks and fans crush Wemby at party

It’s no secret that the Raptors’ roster has been a contentious topic since the rebuild began in 2024. Bringing on Brandon Ingram has just added more fuel to that fire, with his playoff woes and Toronto’s loss in Game 7 of the first round solidifying the idea that while the Raptors are on the right track, they don’t quite have it all together yet.

The position of RJ Barrett within the team has also been complicated. Taking over as the first option for a chunk of the 2024-25 season with Scottie Barnes out, Barrett was relegated to the third option this year with the arrival of ball-dominant scorer Ingram. However, his playoff rising and the shot heard around the world has caused fans to re-evaluate his position within the roster.

An SB Nation poll showed that above half of Raptors fans feel that RJ Barrett has finally won himself some stability in the Raptors’ organization. With only one more year left on his contract, Barrett’s flexibility had contributed to his position as an important piece in trade talks. But, it seems that the Toronto faithful feel that Barrett should remain on his hometown team as a part of the team’s core, gearing up for next season.

The upcoming campaign has also attracted attention for its high-profile draft class. While the Raptors have only the 19th pick in the draft, Toronto fans are split on whether to focus on acquiring a new big man, or to add more depth to the point guard position.

Jakob Poeltl’s struggles this year have caused a clamouring for the Raptors to bring in someone new at the 5, and SB Nation readers echo this sentiment with their poll responses.

While so much about next season is yet undetermined fans have made their voices heard ahead of the late June draft, where odds for who will get drafted where can be found on FanDuel.

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Newly released 2027 NBA championship odds have the runner-up San Antonio Spurs as the co-favorites with the 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Key Takeaways

• The Spurs and Thunder have a combined near-60% probability of winning the Finals.
  
  
• The Celtics are listed ahead of the Knicks as the Eastern Conference favorites.
  
  
• Since 2018, no team has won the championship more than once.

The Thunder and the Spurs spent the majority of 2026 as the championship odds leaders. The Spurs' seven-game upset of the reigning champions in the Western Conference finals made them the heavy favorites over the New York Knicks before the Finals, but they lost in five games.

FanDuel’s +250 odds imply that both teams have a 28.5% chance of lifting the next Larry O’Brien Trophy. This marks the first time since the 2012-13 season that two teams have opened at +250 or shorter, when the Miami Heat and Thunder had the same odds, according to Sports Odds History. 

Interestingly, the Spurs and Thunder both play in the Western Conference. The teams inherently reduce each other's chances of winning the title because only one can reach the Finals.

The 2023-24 champion Boston Celtics are third in title odds at +600 (14.3% chance). NBA analysts Bill Simmons and Marc Stein reported that two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo could be on his way to helping them in their championship pursuit.

Marc Stein confirms Simmons reports on Giannis and the C's:

“Bill beat me to it, he was the first one to talk about Giannis’ interest in Boston and from everything I’ve heard the last 2-3 weeks, his report was spot on.”
(@ALLCITY_NBA) https://t.co/WaIplQxvqB

— CelticsMuse (@CelticsMuse) June 15, 2026

It’s common for league champions to open as favorites in futures markets for the following season. However, the Knicks - whose 13-game winning streak set the second-longest mark in a single postseason - are only fourth at +750 (11.8% chance). Those odds are longer than the +700 price at which they opened last season, per Sports Odds History.

Odds, trends

NBA conference odds also project two-horse races in the East and the West.

In the Western Conference, the Thunder (+140) have a very small advantage over the Spurs (+145). The combined implied probability of those two outcomes is 82.5%, meaning that nearly five times out of six, either one of these teams should win the conference.

The Celtics (+210) lead the Eastern Conference in futures odds, just ahead of the Knicks (+260). The combined implied probability is a hair over 60%, or three-in-five.

Only one other team in either conference has odds in the triple digits; the Detroit Pistons, the East's best team in the regular season, are listed at +900.

The NBA is riding an eight-year streak without a repeat champion. It hasn’t had a back-to-back conference winner during that time either, and only three teams - the Celtics, Heat, and Golden State Warriors - won their respective conference twice.

If bettors assume the streak of new champions continues, the NBA championship odds favorite would be the Pistons (+2,500).

The Minnesota Timberwolves (+3,300), Pacers (+3,500), and Cleveland Cavaliers (+3,500) would be next in line. Any one of those teams winning the Finals would mark the longest preseason underdog champion since the 2014-15 Warriors (+2,800).

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

James Dolan is recognizing the contributions of the Knicks’ significant others.

The Knicks owner spoke to his team on April 3 before their playoff run that ended Saturday with a 94-90 win over the Spurs that clinched the team’s first championship since 1973.

At the time, Dolan assured his players that, should the Knicks bring home the championship, their significant others will also be receiving championship rings in recognition for their contributions and support to the team.

“When we win the championship, we will get rings. When we get rings, so will they,” Dolan told his team.

“I will buy a ring for each one of your significant others, because their contributions are very important to this team win.”

Dolan had jokes too.

“If you don’t have a significant other, most of you do, find someone that you’re sharing this journey with for the next 10 weeks,” Dolan said, which was met with laughs from around the room.

When the Knicks won their championship on Saturday, Dolan, who has owned the team since 1999, addressed Knicks fans everywhere with an apology.

“Hey, New York, I’m sorry it took so long,” Dolan said as the team was presented with the Larry O’Brien trophy, its first in 53 years. “But here we are, and hopefully it won’t take that long again. Yeah!”

After falling behind 2-1 in their first-round series against the Hawks, the Knicks reeled off 13 straight wins and lost just once in that span on their way to defeating the Spurs 4-1 in the Finals.

The Knicks finished the playoffs with a point differential of +283, the biggest in NBA history.

What's the latest on Giannis and Jaylen? O'Connor offers insight originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Milwaukee Bucks are widely expected to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo sometime in the next week. According to several recent reports, the Boston Celtics are frontrunners to land the two-time NBA MVP.

By all accounts, Antetokounmpo is intrigued by the idea of playing in Boston, but acquiring him would almost certainly require the C’s parting ways with 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. It likely wouldn’t be a simple swap between Boston and Milwaukee, however.

“Giannis wants to win. What team offers him the best opportunity to win? In all likelihood, the Boston Celtics,” Yahoo Sports’ NBA insider Kevin O’Connor said on Monday’s Early Edition. “It’s just going to be a matter of, can the Celtics find an appropriate third team to land Jaylen Brown?

“It seems like all indications are the Milwaukee Bucks don’t want Jaylen Brown as their key return. They’d rather have a haul of picks, multiple pieces, rather than just Jaylen Brown. I doubt Jaylen Brown would even want Milwaukee either at this point in his career. He wants to win somewhere else.”

The Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Clippers have often been mentioned as potential partners for Milwaukee and Boston in a three-team deal. Boston would get Antetokounmpo, the third team would get Brown, and Milwaukee would get draft capital and young pieces to help jumpstart its rebuild.

The Miami Heat have also reportedly been in the mix to acquire Antetokounmpo. Wherever the 10-time All-Star goes, the team that lands him will still have work to do.

“It can’t be just Giannis. There would have to be more moves to follow,” O’Connor said. “So I think for the Celtics, if they get Giannis, it’s going to be a matter of, what’s next after that? What other moves are going to completely shake up this roster?”

The Celtics’ roster might get shaken up even if they don’t end up with Antetokounmpo. O’Connor believes president of basketball operations Brad Stevens could move a disgruntled Brown in a different deal.

“I can’t imagine (Brown would) be too happy going back to Boston if they don’t end up landing Giannis Antetokounmpo,” he said. “So I’d imagine that Brad Stevens has at least a Plan B or a Plan C here to flip Jaylen Brown somewhere else for parts. I don’t know what exactly it would be, though.

“The New Orleans package with Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, and whatever other pieces, I think, is pretty intriguing with what they could do in (Joe) Mazzulla’s system alongside Jayson Tatum. I think those are winning players that have just been stuck on a losing team.”

Brown and Antetokounmpo are set to make $57 million and $58 million next season, respectively. Tatum will also make $58 million.

Antetokounmpo, who has a $63 million player option for 2026-27, would be eligible to sign a four-year, $275 million extension six months after being traded. As enticing as it is to put him alongside Tatum for the next several seasons, the new collective bargaining agreement makes it difficult to sustain success with multiple expensive superstars.

“Look, the fact is it’s hard to win with two players making $60-plus million. That’s true with Giannis plus Tatum, it’s true with Brown plus Tatum,” O’Connor said.

“We’ve seen the formula in recent years. The Knicks just won the title with a team that played one through 11 sometimes. Last year, OKC vs. Indiana, two teams that were very deep. Boston the year prior was very deep. With a new collective bargaining agreement, perhaps having one superstar-level player surrounded by good players might be the way forward.”

Whether it’s to Boston, Miami, or elsewhere, Antetokounmpo is expected to be moved before the NBA Draft on June 23.

Watch the Early Edition segment in the video player above.

Spike Lee couldn’t contain himself.

“We did it!” the legendary filmmaker shouted during an ESPN interview after the New York Knicks sealed their first NBA championship since 1973 on Saturday night. “We did it! We did it! We did it!”

If any fan can be excused for using “we” when speaking of their favorite sports team, it would probably be Lee.

Read more:ESPN's coverage of 2026 NBA Finals is setting ratings records for ABC

The “Do the Right Thing” star, director and screenwriter was 13 when he witnessed the Knicks defeat the Lakers in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. And he was on hand in San Antonio at age 69 when the Knicks finished off the Spurs with a title-clinching 94-90 victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

In between, Lee has become the Knicks’ most famous and visible fan. He has been a season-ticket holder since 1985, the rookie season of Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing, and has been a courtside fixture for decades. In 2024, he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s superfan gallery.

Lifelong Knicks fan Spike Lee made sure he got ALL THE ANGLES of the Knicks trophy presentation! 🥹📸 pic.twitter.com/5YpuzibtfO

— NBA (@NBA) May 26, 2026

During a 2020 appearance on ESPN’s “First Take,” Lee laughed when he was informed that his Knicks seats cost around $300,000 a year and that he had spent roughly $10 million on tickets over the years.

“I look stupid now,” he joked.

So, yeah, he’s considered by many to be an honorary member of the Knicks — and as such, he’s also considered by many to be more than worthy of an NBA championship ring. The idea has taken off on social media, with several celebrities offering their support.

Read more:Meet the Beverly Hills jeweler who crafted the Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl ring

“Give @officialspikelee a CHAMPIONSHIP RING DAMN IT!!!!!!!!” comedian and actor Kevin Hart wrote Sunday on Instagram.

Legendary sports broadcaster Dick Vitale wrote Monday on X: “I agree with Kevin Hart - yes the LOYALTY of SPIKE LEE to the @nyknicks should be recognized & rewarded- Spike is truly a dedicated & genuine LOYAL Knicks fan .YES I agree with Kevin - SPIKE should get a Championship ring !”

“First Take” host and fellow die-hard Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith reposted on X a graphic calling for Lee to receive a ring for his “decades of loyalty.”

“I completely support this for Spike Lee,” Smith wrote. “No Knicks’ fan deserves this more than him.”

The Times reached out to representatives for Lee and the Knicks for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Lee is likely less concerned with a championship ring for himself and more concerned with his beloved team earning another one in 2027.

“You know what I’m thinking?” Lee asked during an on-court interview with WABC-TV in New York immediately following Saturday’s victory, before shouting the answer to his own question: “Back to back!”

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Mike Brown sat to the right of James Dolan, Knicks players seated in front of them at the club’s practice facility. 

It was before the April 3 shootaround when Dolan gave an impassioned 15-minute speech, recorded on video, that implored his Knicks to sacrifice everything with an unyielding commitment across the next 10 weeks of the playoffs to compete a mission years in the making — and 53 years in all — that would make every one of them champions and kings of New York with rings for one and all for the rest of their lives.

10 Weeks to Glory.

10 Weeks that would change their lives and the lives of their loved ones forever.

The Future Was Now.

And the owner believed.

“I don’t know if you understand what it would mean to win the NBA championship,”  Dolan told his Knicks. “It would be life-changing… It will stick with you the rest of your lives. And if you don’t win, you’ll be thinking about it the rest of your lives.”

And if you do win, this team will belong up in the rafters with the 1970 Knicks and the 1973 Knicks.

“You will forever ever be important to New York City,” Dolan said. “No matter where you go and what you do the rest of your lives, when people introduce you, even if you become the president of the United States, they’ll start off with ‘NBA champion, 2026.’  … That’s what’s at stake here.”

So seize the moment. 

“The big word is sacrifice. You’re going to have to sacrifice if you want to achieve this,” Dolan said. 

“It’s only 10 weeks, it’s not a long time. . . Sacrifice everything you got these next 10 weeks to win that championship.

“I know you can do it… You know you can do it. I believe you know you can do it.

“Will you do it?”

He offered suggestions:

He implored his Knicks to eliminate distractions and bind together even tighter.

“At the end of this 10 weeks, what you achieve is what the public’s gonna think of you — not what you say in the press conferences, etcetera,” Dolan told them.

He offered other suggestions:

“You need to bump your practice. You need to pay more attention to your diet. You need to sleep better. You need to be ready for every game… That’s not something you start on the first game of the playoffs. That is something you start right now, today!”

And one that was intended as a joke …sort of.

“I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks — you don’t have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks — BUT — like the Spartans, you know what Spartans are? They denied themselves, right? So that they can have an edge. Get the edge.

“Go home, talk to your wives and tell them — don’t tell them you’re not gonna have sex, don’t tell ‘em it was my idea — but let them know what this is gonna be like, what your commitment is gonna be like, and how they’re gonna have to sacrifice too. Those concerns at home, they can’t come on the court. It’s not who we play, it’s how we play.

“Because I believe this team can beat anybody in the NBA.”

The Post could not immediately confirm how many of any of the players lived that Spartan existence but the Knicks sure proceeded to play with that edge across those magical 10 weeks.

“It’s a pretty serious mood going into the playoffs,” Brown told The Post. “When he said that, I was like, ‘Mike, hold yourself together. Do not fall out. Focus on his words. Focus on his words. Try to keep this as serious as you can. And let’s see how it plays out with the players.'”

“But there was no way that I could get that done,” he added with a laugh.

Dolan went on:

“When we win the championship, we will get rings. And when we get rings, so will they. I will buy a ring for each one of your significant others, because their contribution is gonna be very important to this team winning.”

He emphasized first-quarter focus and defensive pick-and-rolls and rebounding. “The next 10 days, fix those three things as part of your focus,” Dolan said, “because those are our Achilles heels, and they’ll stop us in the playoffs.

“You gotta try like you’ve never tried before.

“It’s only 10 weeks guys.

“You gotta go for it. 

“You gotta leave nothing on the table. 

“You must go for it. 

“Do it. Commit to it. Go for it.”

Applause filled the room.

“His speech was effective ‘cause it was powerful,” Brown told The Post. “It was impactful, and it added to what messaging we’ve been giving our guys from Day 1, from the Opening Night dinner going into training camp, it added to it. And it added to it on another level because now you have the top guy, the ultimate leader, the guy that owns the team, that writes the checks, saying how he feels in a deep-felt message.

“They took it very seriously. We had shirts made up with 2026 playoffs, and on the back we had 10 Weeks. And we even had the slogan 10 Weeks on the wall in the locker room, and as time went on, guys would say, ‘Hey — we got 3 weeks left, 3 weeks, let’s lock in.’

“If you can break it down to where hey, this is 10 weeks of your life. . .10 weeks of your life to reach the mountaintop.”

Dolan had lauded Brown for a collaborative approach with the players that he and Rose felt was missing under Tom Thibodeau’s sole voice. It heartened Brown.

“One hundred percent this man has my back and we’re aligned,” Brown said. “And that’s what I needed to hear. Our business, it’s a tough business, there’s too many different opinions that everybody can see and feel that can create separation or divide amongst a group. And I felt when he said those words, especially about me, that our players and everybody that was around during that speech, knew that we were truly aligned, vertically and horizontally, and it was a strong bond.”

Brown was heading for an appearance with Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.”

A parade awaits on Thursday.

“You can’t go anywhere without people hugging you and telling you how long they’ve been waiting,” Brown said. “You see grandpas saying, ‘When I was twenty-something-years-old that happened.’ Then you see parents saying ‘When I was a little kid and my parents used to take me,’ then you see their kids saying, ‘This is great!’ They don’t understand how long 54 years is ‘cause they’re 10 years old (laugh).’ You can feel how passionate and how truthful and how much pain they had over this team not winning all those years.”

The owner’s 10 Weeks To Glory speech changed everything.

According to FOX 5 NY, the New York City Mayor’s Office has finalized the logistics for the Knicks’ historic championship ticker-tape parade. The party hits the streets on Thursday, June 18, 2026.

Here are the times and locations you need to know:

The Timeline & Route

• 10:00 AM ET – The Kickoff: The parade officially begins down at The Battery (Battery Park) in Lower Manhattan.
• The March – Canyon of Heroes: The floats and players will march straight north up Broadway, rolling through the iconic Canyon of Heroes.
• The Finale – City Hall Ceremony: The route wraps up at City Hall Plaza. Immediately following the parade, Mayor Mamdani will host the official championship ceremony on the plaza to present the team with the Keys to the City.

Pro Tip: Lower Manhattan will be completely gridlocked, and several MTA subway stations along Broadway will face temporary entrance/exit closures or heavy bypasses. If you are heading down to camp out for a spot, aim for the early morning and use stations a block or two east or west of Broadway (like the dynamic transit hubs at Fulton Street or Chambers Street) to avoid the worst of the bottlenecks.

Go Knicks!

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Following the Knicks’ closeout Game 5 on Saturday that gave the franchise its first title since 1973, captain and NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson made a special guest appearance on ABC’s “The View.”

Host Whoopi Goldberg asked Brunson how he resisted retaliating against Victor Wembanyama after the Spurs star shoved Brunson to the ground in Game 3.

“I think it starts, honestly, with my parents, how they raised me,” the Knicks star said. “I’ll start there.

“I wanted to [retaliate] but at the same time, I knew that being a leader, understanding the moment, understanding the situation, you have to keep your composure. No matter when it’s being too high or being too low, you gotta stay even-keeled. That’s something I had for a long time.”

On the play referenced in the interview, there was no call, and Wembanyama avoided a flagrant foul. He had already received two flagrant foul points earlier in the playoffs for elbowing Minnesota’s Naz Reid in the jaw. Had Wembanyama been given a flagrant foul for shoving Brunson, he would’ve been at most one foul away from an automatic suspension.

Controversy surrounding officiating continued throughout the NBA Finals. In Game 1, Brunson had multiple encounters with referee Scott Foster, including one in which Brunson was seen screaming at Foster after a no-call where Brunson took hard contact from Spurs defenders.

Those that Brunson credited with teaching him to keep composure include his father Rick Brunson, the former player who is now an assistant coach with the Knicks. The father-son duo celebrated their championship together after Game 5 on Saturday.

The younger Brunson was asked in the immediate afterglow of the Game 5 win how it felt to win alongside his dad and he hesitated to answer, growing emotional as the weight of the moment overcame him.

“You can see it,” ESPN’s Lisa Salters told him in their live broadcast interview.

“You can see it,” Brunson repeated.