Category: NBA

At this level, a basketball series is always a chess game; and it would surprise no one that Victor Wembanyama who famously played chess in New York, is certainly looking at a tough, strategic series to finish this season.

I thought it would great to review what challenges the New York Knicks present, and come up with some creative, chess-like, strategies to help our young Spurs win the Larry O’Brien trophy.

These 2026 NBA Finals promise to be epic

Two very different teams, on two very different trajectories in the past few years if not the past few weeks. 

In a chess game, it is often more important to analyse and design a strategy from your opponent’s perspective. Although the Spurs have home court advantage thanks to their 62 win season, as opposed to 53 for the Knicks, these Finals will be played strategically on these two awesome court designs.

The Spurs, after a hard reset via the lottery, have accelerated their return to contention in remarkable fashion, in less than three years after drafting Wembanyama.

The Knicks, on the other end, have patiently rebuilt their roster around Jalen Brunson.

One amusing thing these two teams share: a reluctance to disclose their respective star player’s real height. Is Victor really 7’3 or closer to 7’5? And Jalen? Genuinely 6’2 or more like 6’?

Another common trait: depth. During this postseason, both teams have leaned heavily on their benches. The Knicks have had their five starters scoring in double figures, the Spurs had six players.

The Knicks’ Strengths

Jalen Brunson is a maestro. The ball stays in his hands a lot, but his offense is less self-centered than Doncic’s, he directs rather than dominates. His footwork is unmatched in the League, allowing him to find ways to score over or around players far taller than him, which is nearly everyone. On the defensive end, he has an uncanny ability to draw charges and calls himself the best “below the rim protector” in the game.

The second most important Knicks is OG Anunoby. The 28-year-old Englishman is peaking. Already a champion with the Raptors in 2019, he is averaging nearly 20 points this postseason while shooting 48% from three (mainly on corner threes) on 4.8 attempts per game, all while being arguably the Knicks’ best and most consistent defender, averaging 7 rebounds and 2.6 stocks.

Then there is Karl-Anthony Towns. It seems like coach Mike Brown has unlocked a version of KAT we had never seen before, even in Minnesota. KAT leads the Knicks in rebounds and dishes out almost 6 assists per game, while also recording 2.6 stocks. And he has not abandoned his signature strength: an almost incomprehensible 49% from three on 3.2 attempts per game, cementing his case as the best-shooting 7-footer in the League.

This trio has been flying this postseason: efficient, defensively sound, and relentless. Special mention to Mikal Bridges, who after a rough start has shot 59% from the floor, and Josh Hart, their Swiss Army knife who leaves everything on the court every night.

The Knicks’s bench is not as deep as some other Conference Finalists, but Landry Shamet and Miles McBride can produce big buckets on any given night. Jordan Clarkson and Mitchell Robinson bring energy and spot minutes off the pine.

Expected Match-Ups

Brunson vs. Castle

On paper, this could be the key match-up of the Finals. Castle has shown he could hold the two-time MVP below his scoring average for most of the WCF but Steph has also struggled at times, particularly with turnovers when Fox was out with a high ankle sprain.

Brunson is the best in the business at drawing charges. If Castle is aggressive driving to the rim as he often does, Brunson will be waiting for him. As much as Castle can slow Brunson down, the reverse is equally true: a foul-trouble crisis for Castle would be devastating for San Antonio.

Hart vs. Wembanyama

Many analysts predict Wembanyama will be assigned to Josh Hart, the least threatening offensive weapon in the Knicks starting five, allowing him to roam and wreak havoc defensively. I see more problems with this approach than benefits. Here is what I would do instead. Hart will be smart enough to apply pressure on the boards, he is an above-average offensive rebounder, and therefore he could keep Vic close to the hoop.

We saw against OKC, how Vic’s rebounds declined as he was assigned to doubling on SGA or running to the 3-point line. The Spurs need Wembanyama to own the paint, not just on offense but on the defensive end too, to avoid second chance points.

A Different Approach: My Preferred Match-Ups for the Spurs

Wembanyama on Anunoby

None of San Antonio’s starters can match OG physically, except Vic. If Wembanyama was able to battle Hartenstein and Caruso, he can contain OG, who is dangerous in transition, off the dribble, and from deep. Putting Vic on Hart might free him up to help, but OG would feast on anyone else guarding him. Julian Champagnie or Keldon Johnson are secondary options if needed.

Vassell on Towns

Devin Vassell’s defense on Chet Holmgren was stellar throughout the Western Conference Finals. KAT, much like Chet, spends a lot of time outside the paint. The two 7-footers share another similarity: they can be gotten into their heads, exposed mentally more than physically. Vassell has the discipline and focus to exploit that.

Champagnie on Hart

Julian’s rebounding has been impressive in the second half of the season and has carried into the postseason. Matching him with Hart could neutralize Hart’s offensive rebounding, which is one of his most dangerous and underrated contributions.

Castle on Bridges

Mikal Bridges is currently scorching. No one is better equipped than Castle to slow him down. And when Bridges’s shots aren’t falling, he can become a net negative for his team.  Castle can put him in that box.

Fox on Brunson

That leaves DeAaron Fox on Brunson. Fox is San Antonio’s most experienced starter and has faced Brunson 17 times in his career.

In those 17 head-to-heads:

Brunson: 20.1 pts, 2.6 reb, 5.0 ast, 0.9 stl, 0.2 blk

Fox: 21.1 pts, 3.6 reb, 7.0 ast, 1.4 stl, 0.6 blk

Brunson will always be hard to stop. My strategy is to disrupt all the other Knicks starters and let Fox handle Brunson. These are the NBA Finals. Fox will rise to the occasion. He is about to become a max-contract player, while Brunson famously took a pay cut to give the Knicks front office room to build around him. This series is Fox’s moment as a Spurs.

Prediction

Spurs in 7

Victor Wembanyama will once again lead his team in points, rebounds, and blocks and will win the Finals MVP Trophy.

The day is here. Game One of the NBA Finals. Unless you came to this party reallllly late, you know the dates and lengths: 27 years since New York’s last Finals appearance, 53 years since Walt and the Gang beat the league. My inner junior sportswriter is compelled to reference those numbers at the outset of this preview, and that’s fine. They remain impressive, even after inserting them into dozens of articles over the past months.

I am moved, too, to give other details. For instance, the likely starters (De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, and Victor Wembanyama for the home team; Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns for the visitors), and how the Knicks fared against San Antonio during the regular season—2-1, including the Emirates Cup win, which friggin counts!

The urge to write out per-game averages and shooting percentages is being resisted. You must have a good, general understanding of our team and the competition after three rounds of playoff basketball and endless media coverage. What is left to say? Wemby is tall and supernatural. Brunson is small and supernatural. The supporting cast is an impressive array of talented characters, with respected vets on our side and respected kids on theirs.

I feel obliged to mention that the Knicks are on a postseason rampage, winning 11 straight games and bludgeoning teams by more points than any other NBA team in playoff history. I should recommend that you ignore any biased hacks who dismiss the streak based on the quality of their opponents. The Knicks swept two postseason-qualifying NBA teams and would have taken the broom to the Hawks, too, if they had gotten their act together sooner.

Should I update you on Mitchell Robinson’s finger (you know as much as I do)? Or remind you how that kid from Brooklyn, Julian Champagnie, went nuclear on December 31 versus the Knicks, recording a career-high 36 points and setting a Spurs franchise record by drilling 11 three-pointers (on 17 attempts)? Or relay that a certain podcaster says the key to stopping Wemby is to tire him out by sprinting up and down the floor?

Maybe. But, friends, fans, and family, I am too deep in my feelings this morning to care about statistics.

Matthew Miranda (you know him, you love him) and I were recalling how the 1994 Finals gutted us. Turns out, I am still not healed from the loss to the Hakeem and the Rockets. When I sat with the memories last night, my stomach wrenched as if stabbed. An honest-to-goodness twist in the guts, after all these years! Memory lane is a thorny path, indeed.

June of ‘94 was a momentous month. I graduated from high school, put plans in place for summer and fall, and my beloved basketball team was in the NBA Finals. Life was looking pretty, pretty good. Then the Knicks lost Game Seven, and it became apparent that everything (life, plans, expectations) might not go so smoothly after all.

It didn’t, and it did. I survived college. Moved to Binghamton for a job and wound up with a family and a drinking problem. Got sober. Made friends. Did a ton of cool stuff. Remarried and expanded the family. Lost too many friends to count. Watched my babies become men. Etcetera. The details differ, but we each have a version of the highs and the lows. Along the way, I stuck with my Knicks. I groaned my way through so many lame seasons and players and coaches, all the while expecting / hoping / praying for the Knicks to win a championship in my lifetime. They came close in 1999 before falling to a different team from Texas, the Spurs. That makes the current Finals quite a special rematch, no? Almost as if divinely designed.

During the title drought, I assume that many of you thought, like me, They couldn’t go more than 35 years without a ring, right? Not 40, right? Not 50—right??? Tonight, as the Finals begin, we will each bring our own meanings, feelings, and history as fans to the game. For me, there’s a chance to heal a wound that opened in 1994. I am deeply grateful—and so damned lucky—to share the moment with all of you, who can understand. What a blessed life it has turned out to be.

Go Knicks!

Game Details

Who: New York Knicks (0-0) at San Antonio Spurs (0-0)
Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Time: 8:30 PM ET
Place: Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
TV: ABC
Follow: @ptknicksblog and bsky

Madison Square Garden will again host a watch party for Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

Tip-off is at 8:30 E.T., with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. The $10 tickets were snapped up quickly and sold out within an hour of the posting on Ticketmaster. Fans will be able to watch the game on Garden Vision and other screens inside the Garden.

It's a stark turnaround from what city officials were saying just a week ago as the Knicks were eliminating the Cleveland Cavaliers in a four-game sweep.

The New York City Police Department had to stop watch parties outside "The World's Most Famous Arena" during the Cavaliers series, claiming fans became unruly. On May 21, six people were arrested after more than 6,000 fans celebrated following New York's 109-93 victory over Cleveland in Game 2.

With a really important offseason in front of the Lakers, it probably shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that there were a lot of questions you guys wanted answered in our latest mailbag.

So many, in fact, that we have to split them up.

There was plenty of discussion and questions about LeBron James, his impending free agency, how much the Lakers should prioritize him and whether they’re better off without him. There were also a lot of other general questions.

To avoid turning the mailbag into a LeBron-centric piece, we’re going to split that up into it’s own piece for Thursday. This one will be focused on the “other” questions, which involve the Lakers’ own free agents, potential centers in free agency and via trade and how the team is and could change owner Mark Walter.

So, let’s dive in!

As I thought about this question, I actually wondered if there were any that were “absolute” keepers. It’s a subjective phrase, but to me, it means you have to pay them whatever is necessary to retain them.

The only person I feel that way about would be Austin Reaves, who was taken out of the conversation. After that, would you argue that anyone else is someone the Lakers must keep?

With LeBron, there is a price point that certainly will determine how much the Lakers want to re-sign him. Rui Hachimura feels like the next most important free agent, but there is a price point where it would feel too rich to retain him.

After that, I’m not sure you would quantify any of the other free agents as “absolute” keepers. Luke Kennard was valuable during the regular season and the first round of the playoffs, but also tailed off offensively as the postseason progressed and was targeted often by the Thunder.

Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton could be free agents, but I doubt anyone views Ayton as an “absolute” keeper. Smart could be on that list, but if a team comes in with an offer around $10 million annually, does it make sense for the Lakers to retain him?

The good news for the Lakers in all this is that not many teams have cap space. They won’t be able to outspend LA unless they devote their mid-level exceptions to these players. The Lakers are in a good place in this regard.

Let’s take this one at a time.

A center rotation of Mitchell Robinson and Robert Williams III would be incredible…for the seven games they are healthy together. Both are set for free agency this summer, so they would be attainable. But both have big injury concerns.

Robinson has played 59, 31, 17 and 60 games in the last four seasons. Time Lord has played 35, 6, 20 and 59 games in his last four seasons. I don’t want to be the team buying high on them having a rare healthy season.

Now, let’s look at the wings. I’m not going to rank them, but I have been making a list of players to take a look at before free agency. Here’s a look at that (non-extensive) list right now:

Peyton Watson, Herb Jones, Lu Dort, Tari Eason, Trey Murphy III, Lu Dort, Sadiq Bey, Kelly Oubre, Derrick Jones Jr., Andrew Wiggins

Lastly, the Giannis Antetokoumpo superteam route. In a scenario where they somehow have acquired Giannis, convinced LeBron to sign for the minimum and retained Austin, they would have a fantastic core…and little else.

Giannis would eat up all of the Lakers’ cap room. You’re going to have to build the roster with the exceptions they would have and veteran’s minimum deals. It’s a path the Lakers were forced down during the Russell Westbrook days with mixed results.

But, having said that, you’d be hard-pressed to find a quartet better than those four.

I think there’s a nuanced conversation to be had about Rob Pelinka and his role with the team. It’s something I plan on diving into more in-depth at some point. But the gist of it is that I always felt that he was going to get this summer to make moves, but he’ll be heavily judged on them.

In short, this is a make-or-break summer.

You don’t spend years building up this summer with talks about optionality and draft picks and flexibility and then be allowed to miss on it. He has to get things right this summer or he should lose his job.

Now, if you’re looking for some optimism on if he can do that, take a look at the last calendar year. Starting with the draft and buying up to select Adou Thiero through free agency and the trade deadline, Pelinka has hit on basically every move.

I’m not trying to write away his misses, because they’ve been big and set the team back years. Watching Alex Caruso still hurts. But is it possible those were mistakes he learned from?

For the sake of the team this summer, it’s best to hope so.

Well, I can’t give you a complete breakdown in this short time, but we do have plans for our very own Bryan Toporek to detail some things in the coming weeks.

I would also direct you to the top of our page, under “Sections.” If you click “Salary Cap Info,” it will take you to our salary page, which is updated throughout the season. It will also show you the breakdown from our friends at Salary Swish.

There hasn’t been any talk about changes to the G League team outside of the move to Coachella Valley. While there was some discussion about the negatives that would come with the move, including not having the G League team in-house anymore, it will allow the Lakers to reallocate some of the space in the UCLA Health Training Center with new medical and recovery labs.

Circling back to the G League side, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the coaching staff and front office expanded to some degree. It’s one of the ways the team can flex their financial muscle outside of the salary cap and finding those diamonds in the rough is already a Lakers specialty even before Walter took over.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

The Jaylen Brown trade rumors keep comin’ and they don’t stop comin’.

After weeks of speculation about whether the Celtics could explore a major roster shakeup this offseason, the New Orleans Pelicans have reportedly emerged as one of the teams with interest in Brown.

“The Pelicans have been mentioned by various league executives with Jaylen Brown interest, as well,” NBA insider Jake Fischer said while speaking on Bleacher Report’s live show.

Fischer also cautioned that interest does not mean Boston is preparing to move one of its franchise pillars.

“We don’t know if Boston is even going to fully entertain this at the end of the day,” Fischer said. “But that doesn’t mean these teams aren’t going to call and try.”

According to reports, the Rockets, Hawks, and Trail Blazers have also been linked to Brown. Of course, none of this means a deal is close. It does not even mean Brad Stevens is shopping Brown. But it does show that if Boston ever did open the door, there would be no shortage of teams trying to wedge a foot into the frame and present their best package.

For New Orleans, the motivation is easy enough to understand. Brown would give the Pelicans a proven star wing still in his prime, someone who could immediately raise the team’s ceiling and set a defensive tone under new head coach Jamahl Mosley. He is a five-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection, NBA champion and Finals MVP. Those players do not become available often, which is why teams are apparently circling even before there is any clear sign Boston is ready to listen.

The harder question, and the only one that really matters, is what the Pelicans could actually offer and whether that’s enough for Brad Stevens.

Trey Murphy III would almost certainly need to be part of any serious player package. Murphy is younger than Brown, a high-level shooter and the kind of big wing every team desires. Dejounte Murray could also help match salary and give Boston another ball handler, though his fit would be questionable alongside Jayson Tatum and the rest of the Celtics roster.

Another possible framework could center around Murphy, Murray and significant draft capital. NBA insider Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson reported that a potential New Orleans offer could be built around those pieces, which makes sense as a starting point if the Pelicans want to avoid including Zion Williamson.

But in terms of allure, Zion is perhaps the most fascinating name, and certainly the scariest one.

According to Robinson, the Pelicans would prefer to keep Williamson, but may not view him as completely untouchable if a major deal for a player of Brown’s caliber required a larger franchise pivot. One potential alternate construction could involve Zion, Herb Jones and significant draft capital. That package would give Boston more rim pressure and defensive toughness, but it would also ask the Celtics to take on all the uncertainty that has followed Williamson’s career: availability, conditioning, fit and whether his best-case version can be counted on through a long playoff run.

That is a lot of risk when the outgoing player is Jaylen Brown.

The crown jewel in any Pelicans package may not be one of the names on the roster. It could be the 2027 first-round asset. New Orleans’ future draft situation is complicated by swaps and obligations, but the appeal is obvious. If Boston were to move Brown without getting a clean star-for-star replacement, the Celtics would need draft capital that could either become a premium pick or help fuel the next move.

That is where this rumor becomes more interesting than a simple “Team X wants star player” headline.

A Brown-to-New-Orleans deal would probably make more sense if it were part of a larger chain of moves. The Celtics are not in a position where depth for depth’s sake should be the goal. They already have plenty of players who can make a case for minutes. Their bigger need is turning good pieces into fewer, better-fitting pieces around Jayson Tatum and whoever remains in the core.

That is why any Pelicans package would need to be judged less by the names alone and more by what it allows Boston to do next. Murphy would help replace some wing scoring and shooting. Murray would give Boston a mid-sized contract and another creator. Zion would offer the rim pressure Stevens has openly said the Celtics need, but with far more volatility. The 2027 first-round asset could be the real swing piece, especially if Boston is trying to build enough ammunition for another major move.

Still, there is a long way from “interest” to an actual Jaylen Brown trade.

Brown is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He helped carry Boston to 56 wins in a season that began with lowered expectations because of Jayson Tatum’s Achilles recovery. He remains one of the faces of the franchise and one of the few players on the roster who has already proven he can be a top option deep into the playoffs.

So yes, the Pelicans may be interested. I’m sure most teams would be interested in having a player like Brown on their roster.

But if New Orleans wants Boston to even think about picking up the phone, the conversation probably starts with Murphy, real salary, and the best draft capital the Pelicans can put on the table. If Zion is involved, the upside grows, but so does the risk.

Anything less feels more like an early-summer rumor than a serious Jaylen Brown conversation.

For as unpredictable as the NBA can be, it doesn’t get many sea changes. That is, big, overhauling alterations to its topography or behavioral patterns – those things take more time. The 2025-2026 Playoffs have been mercurial, surprising, even enlightening, but it’s still not the basketball that’s brought about the most marked development.

It was clear something was different when the tenor of the NBA aggregator infographics changed. Early in the playoffs the images looked familiar, the usual contextless photos of athletes looking gassed or frustrated churned out with blunt, all-caps missives (OUT, ELIMINATED, CHOKED, BUILT DIFFERENT) from NBA media properties’ social platforms and aggregator sites alike. But then, following the first round, there was a blip. 

After the Spurs beat the Blazers in a five-game series, Victor Wembanyama answered a postgame question from L’Equipe’s Maxime Aubin about the cliché that showing emotions signals weakness. As that game ended, Wembanyama visibly choked up on the Spurs bench.

“I think it’s first and foremost a fear of judgment,” Wembanyama told Aubin. “Like, this feeling that you have to act a certain way, social codes, I guess. Personally, I refuse to carry the burden of having to hide my emotions.”

In rapid succession, the quote was aggregated, but it wasn’t blunted. At most, the “personally” was lopped off, but infographics of all shapes and sizes (or just two, whatever the optimised dimensions are for Instagram and Twitter) stated, like an awkwardly short affirmation, “I refuse to carry the burden of having to hide my emotions.” There were photos of Wembanyama looking thoughtfully into the middle distance, photos of him screaming in triumph, lots of photos of him crying, face scrunched or buried into the shoulder of a teammate.

That was early May, when the stakes for the Spurs felt light and low. The team has since advanced through two more rounds, besting the Timberwolves in six and dumbfounding the Thunder in seven games of high-flying, arduous, gorgeous basketball. Throughout those 13 contests, Wembanyama’s emotional peaks and valleys have continued to be on prominent display: there have been more tears, more tension, more frustrations and more joy. In the month backdropping those games, the appreciation, even obsession, with Wembanyama’s expressiveness has also grown. Creators outside the traditional NBA media and fan ecosystem have latched on, touting Wembanyama for normalising vulnerability and bringing back demonstratively caring about things. Even within the typically contradictory and oftentimes dour NBA media space of which I am a part, he’s been similarly lauded.

But Wembanyama isn’t the first athlete to articulate how badly he wants to win and to ugly cry when he does. Nor is he the first to grapple with the juxtaposition of that desirousness against the appearance of cold control we still require of our stars. So, what is it about this moment that’s made Wembanyama resonate so deeply, well beyond the NBA? Why do we care so much about Wembanyama caring so much?

Loathe as we are to admit it, we’re creatures of the contemporary world; frogs boiling in whatever noxious soup du jour each new news cycle dumps more ingredients into. Against the backdrop of accumulating global conflicts and the warped language used by our leaders to justify them — “deescalate” into violent escalation, “winding down” that only serves to ramp up — the plain-spoken rejection of a convoluted and long-held status quo hits like a gulp of cold water. Wembanyama handed us the proverbial glass when he rejected the need to be responsible for other people’s discomfort with his emotions, and he’s topped the glass up each time he’s doubled down on being expressive. 

There’s a two-fold distinction in Wembanyama’s direct and considered articulation. The first is that he has the perspective of an outsider, because he is one. Basketball is the common ground, a shared language as much as shorthand between him and a majority American NBA fanbase, but his clarity comes from a lifetime prior to now of looking in. The requisite distance needed to hold a place up like a prism and have it catch different streams of light. It was apparent this past winter, when he was one of just a few NBA players to speak up about ICE violently clamping down on people in Minneapolis.

“Every day I wake up and see the news and I’m horrified. It’s crazy that some people might make it sound like it’s acceptable, the murder of civilians. Every day I read the news and I’m asking very deep questions about my own life. But I’m conscious also that saying everything that’s on my mind that would have a cost that’s too great for me right now,” he told media. “I’m a foreigner, I live in this country, I am concerned.”

Asked to clarify if his hesitation to speak came from being a foreigner, Wembanyama said yes.

It was a glimpse into his thought process as a person navigating the delicate intersection he stood at as a French national and non U.S. citizen, as a high-profile athlete, arguably no longer an abstract “future face of the NBA” but the very one actively eclipsing the last generation, and as, foremost, a person who saw injustice and harm and was compelled to speak up. All athletes exist in something of a suspended state of personhood, expected to perform as their outward persona even when they’re off the court. International athletes — especially those in the U.S. in its current sociopolitical climate — exist in a much more temporal state of belonging and tend to keep below the radar.

His articulation has also been bodily. At his stature, his face is a little like a lighthouse. Whatever expression flashes there is impossible to miss. The difference between Wembanyama’s competitive expressiveness and, say, an athlete blowing up on court with vitriol, is that we’re almost more accustomed to the latter. To expressions of frustration and aggression: fights breaking out, equipment being smashed. We’re conditioned to think of these eruptions as part and parcel with the high-stakes and effort of pro sports, proof of concept. But it’s a little bit of crying that, traditionally, had the potential to send the whole system spiraling. At least it was, until a highly visible — 7’4, towering tears — athlete started doing it. 

It’s this visibility of emotion, specifically the emotions we equate with sensitivity and vulnerability, that’s so unique when paired with Wembanyama’s expression of them. It reads as oversimplified, even rude (giant man has giant feelings), but when seemingly softer emotions are expressed at billboard-size scale, it’s almost like exposure therapy. 

And it’s high-stakes exposure. Prime-time and now, entering the Finals, under the brightest lights and biggest production the NBA has to offer. There’s been a sense that, as the playoffs wore on and the Spurs gained experience, they’d mature, harden. Wembanyama as their leader perhaps most of all. There is, in some corners of fandom and analysis, even a thirst for this. For a young team like San Antonio to get the hope and all these softer expressions — aspiration, jitters, overwhelming joy — roughly knocked out of them. 

But this is it. In a world where we’re told not to care, a mindset reinforced daily by the blithe destruction and ravaging of people, their humanity, far and close to home; where a social veer to aggressive, self-serving apathy is threatening to become — if not already — the norm, a demonstrative example of a person extolling the opposite is jarring. That initial jolt can be taken as a threat, or as an opportunity to recalibrate. To be a little more willing to put your own vulnerabilities on display in return. 

My interpretation of Wembanyama being put up as face, or saviour, of the league is not that the NBA was lacking the hyper-unique, once-in-an-era skillset he has prior to this; it’s that he offers an alternative to the majority viewing experience of the world writ large right now. You can certainly watch to be entertained, but you can also watch to be infused with a wallop of emotion. The scale of those feelings is difficult to simply switch off with the game, chances are that they will flash over you in the days, months, and more to come. Against disorienting, intolerant darkness, Wembanyama is a roving light to borrow from or burn with.

Victor Wembanyama is listed as the tallest player in the NBA. The Spurs’ superstar is 7’4, according to the NBA website.

I’m here to tell you that the Spurs are lying, and Wemby is actually even taller than that.

Wembanyama is taking centerstage in the 2026 NBA Finals as his San Antonio Spurs take on the New York Knicks. The French sensation is only in his third season after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. This is the first playoff appearance of his career — partially because he was diagnosed with a season-ending blood clot in his shoulder last year — and he’s already in the NBA Finals. It’s likely that a lot of casual fans are about watch Wembanyama closely for the first time during the Finals, and many of them will be wondering how tall he actually is. Here’s what we know.

Long-time NBA Draft insider Jonathan Givony reported that Wembanyama measured at 7’4 barefoot in the summer of 2022 when he was only 18 years old. It’s the measurement I always think about before I write down Wemby’s height.

If Wembanyama measured at 7’4 barefoot when he was 18 years old, then it’s at least somewhat plausible he’s gotten even taller since then. Because basketball is played in shoes, I’d give Wemby another inch or inch-and-half. He’s at least 7’5 on the court, and probably even a little bit taller.

Why would the Spurs lie about Wembanyama’s height? Maybe they don’t have an official measurement considering Wembanyama skipped the 2023 NBA Draft combine. Maybe Wembanyama doesn’t want the truth out there. I have proof that the Spurs have incorrectly labeled the height of other players by making them shorter than barefoot measurements at the combine.

Rookie forward Carter Bryant measured at 6’6.5 barefoot at the 2025 NBA Draft combine.

Yet he’s listed at 6’6 on the Spurs’ official website.

Dylan Harper measured 6’4.5 barefoot at the combine in the same class as Bryant, and the Spurs list him at 6’5. Stephon Castle measured 6’5.5 at the combine, and the Spurs list him at 6’6. The Spurs like to list their players’ barefoot height as their official height, and it seems like they aren’t rounding up on a half inch.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Edey is the second-tallest player in the NBA according to its official website, and he’s listed at 7’3. Edey measured at 7’3.75 at the combine in the same class as Castle.

Looking at photos from Wembanyama’s matchups vs. Edey in the NBA, it sure seems like more than a quarter of an inch taller than Edey.

I always think back to this photo of Wemby standing next to Edey at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup — which is where Wembanyama’s one-sided rivalry with Chet Holmgren began. The French star looks at least an inch or two taller than Edey here, too.

The Spurs said they measured Wembanyama at his introductory press conference after they drafted him in 2023. San Antonio said Wembanyama measured at 7’3.5 barefoot, which would be a half inch shorter than the height Givony reported a year earlier. I tend to believe Givony’s number based on his reputation as the reporter and the visual evidence that Wembanyama is clearly taller than the 7’3.75 Edey.

Donovan Clingan is listed at 7’2, which is tied for the NBA’s fourth-tallest player. Wembanyama clearly looks taller than him in photos when they’ve faced off.

My best guess for Wembanyama’s height in shoes is 7’5.5. Even that might be conservative. The Knicks better have a good game plan to slow down Wemby, because he already feels like the best player in the world.

It sure helps to be 7’5, at minimum.

Want to get more Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account here.

New York Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson has had one hell of a run in the playoffs.

He’s scoring almost 27 points a night and has propelled New York to the NBA Finals, including back-to-back series sweeps to set up this showdown with the San Antonio Spurs.

Despite that success, Brunson isn’t buying into his own brand.

“We can’t be satisfied just because we’re here,” he told reporters ahead of tonight’s Game 1.

Big Apple basketball bettors are banking on Brunson big time. I dig into his NBA player props for my best Knicks vs. Spurs predictions and NBA picks for June 3.

Jalen Brunson prop pick for Game 1

Jalen Brunson best bet: Jalen Brunson Over 2.5 rebounds

Jalen Brunson’s contributions don’t stop at scoring (FYI: one of my favorite Game 1 bets is Over 2.5 3-pointers). 

The New York Knicks' burly point guard can also clean the glass and unlike the opening three rounds, Brunson faces a smaller San Antonio Spurs squad. 

Beyond 7-foot skyscraper Victor Wembanyama and a few backup bigs, the Spurs’ main rotation doesn’t go beyond 6-foot-7, and that gives smaller guards a fighting chance on the boards (take Wemby out and San Antonio drops to an average height of 6-foot-6.1 – fourth shortest).

Brunson was an active rebounder in three meetings with San Antonio this season, snatching four rebounds in each of those outings while averaging more than seven rebounding chances per game. 

He wrangled three or more rebounds in three of the four games against a shorter Cleveland backcourt, upping his chances to 8.0 per contest in the Eastern Conference finals. Projections for Game 1 of the NBA Finals all sit north of three boards with a ceiling at 4.1 rebounds.

My conservative number comes out to 3.4 rebounds, which lands the fair price right on this current ask of Over 2.5 -155.

However, if you lean toward his past production versus San Antonio and the high side of the game models (as well as an expected uptick in pace compared to the past two opponents), Brunson is pegged for 3.75 rebounds. That should have the Over 2.5 listed closer to -200.

Jalen Brunson same-game parlay

I like the Knicks to cover in Game 1, despite the risk of a “rust over rest” factor following an extended layoff. Ahead of tonight, Brunson specifically mentioned the team’s flat start in Game 1 of the Eastern finals following a big break, and I don’t see New York falling into that trap again.

The Knicks have various defensive options to throw at Wembanyama and pose a much bigger threat from outside than OKC, hence the Over on Brunson’s triples. Between battling a smaller Spurs lineup on the boards and burying shots from downtown, Brunson puts in a strong start to the NBA Finals.

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.

Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals is just hours away and the status of a key player is still up in the air.

New York Knicks backup center Mitchell Robinson, who suffered a broken right pinky finger early last week, is the lone player to appear on the injury report for both the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.

The Knicks said Robinson did not suffer the injury during a game or practice but did not provide any additional information about the origin of the injury.

Robinson, who has had several injury issues throughout his career, had been available for New York this postseason. In 13 playoff games this year, Robinson has averaged 5.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.6 bocks and 0.5 steals across just 14.2 minutes per game.

Robinson is the first center off the bench to spell starter Karl-Anthony Towns, but Robinson’s struggles from the free throw line — he’s shooting just 30.2% from the line this postseason — have forced Knicks coach Mike Brown to be more calculated with Robinson’s playing time. That’s magnified further because opposing teams have resorted to intentionally fouling Robinson to put him on the line.

After so many years off, I can’t believe we are getting round four of my all-time favorite series: Fraternizing with the Enemy, where I discuss happenings with a writer from the enemy other team. We’ve had three great series through the first three rounds of the playoffs, and now, not only have we reached the pinnacle known as the NBA Finals, but we’ve come full circle with a rematch with the Spurs’ first ever Finals opponent from 1999: the New York Knicks. There’s no one better to get down to brass taxes with than Russell Richardson: editor-in-chief of SB Nation’s Knicks blog, Posting and Toasting.

J.R.

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling strong 20th century vibes right now. As if I want to party like it’s 1999, or at least watch basketball like it. Twenty-seven years have passed since the Knicks and Spurs met in the playoffs and here we are in the year that the NBA Finals validates the in-season NBA Cup Tournament. 

Ever since San Antonio eliminated Minnesota in the second round, I’ve been saying that New York scared me more than OKC. But during games 1, 2 & 7 against the Thunder, I was more tense than I’ve been for any game in over twenty years, so I don’t know that stack-ranking teams by induced fear will accomplish much. Before the OKC series, people were saying how much both teams had developed since they last played, but the Knicks have undergone at least the same kind of improvement since SA and NY have met. Which makes me wonder, with all of these changes on both sides, how long a series do you expect?

R.R.

Pleased to meet you finally, J.R. I have three tickets to see Wilco this month, so when a message arrived from Wilco, I assumed Jeff Tweedy was checking on my choices for the setlist.

Funny story: My reason for picking the Knicks to win in five games is not rooted in basketball logic. A few months ago, my wife and sister-in-law asked about attending a Wilco show at Beak and Skiff (an excellent venue). With a date of June 16, a potential Knicks conflict didn’t register. Why? Because it’s been decades since the Knicks last played in June, and they weren’t exactly living up to expectations this season. I bought tickets. Child care was arranged. Now, I’m in a pickle: either the Knicks wrap this up in five, or I’ll need to fake an injury so I can watch Game Six. What’s the marital equivalent of an SGA flop?

But if you pinned me down, I’d predict: Impossible Four, Unlikely Five . . . Knicks in Six.

Your memories of the 1999 Finals must be fonder than mine. For one, I was inebriated throughout the series, watching from a Belmar barstool while my soon-to-be (and eventually ex-) wife drowned me in whiskey. Suffice it to say, my recollection is blurry. For two, look at those box scores. Yikes! The Knicks scored 77 in Game One and 67 in Game Two. It’s crazy to remember that they averaged 86 points per game that season. Sure, that was nearly the lowest in the league, but the NBA was still a far cry from the point-paloozas of today. In 25 years, teams will average 150 and play exhibition games on Mars.

The current Spurs team has no trouble running up the scoreboard. And in the playoffs, they’ve looked more cohesive than the iteration New York beat in the NBA Cup. Even then, they were no pushovers; the Knicks had to rally in the fourth, winning the quarter 35–19. When the Thunder were favored in the WCF, I was skeptical. San Antonio proved me right. They’re truly the best in the West, and, truth be told, they’re a helluva lotta fun to watch.

I can’t wait for these two teams to lock horns. I’m here for any and all of your questions, although brilliant answers are not guaranteed (many brain cells died before this blogger sobered up). I’m curious to know what you think is different between the Spurs of this moment versus the team that NY beat in the Cup game. I have assumptions (a young team coming to understand each other’s rhythms and style after playing more games together, for instance) but you’ve watched them more than I.

J.R.

The changes the Spurs have undergone since the Knicks beat them on December 16 is a fun topic because some started soon after, and some have just been completed in overcoming Oklahoma City. 

The first transition was in the team’s approach on offense. Early in the season, the offense ran through Victor, and opponents were selling out to stop him at all costs. Sometimes this would work  (the early-season games against Phoenix are great examples) and San Antonio’s offense simply cratered. Even in the games they won, the Spurs would go through extremely long offensive droughts. This continued until the all star break after which Wemby suddenly showed that he’d learned that he didn’t have to be the center of the offense for the team to win. 

Suddenly, instead of calling for the ball while 20 feet from the basket, going on-on-one, and driving into loads of help defense and turning the ball over (which he’d done a lot of last season), he would set screens and roll while the defense stretched to keep him from the rim, which opened up all kinds of opportunities for the Spurs shooters and drivers to exploit. That’s the environment in which Wemby would then attack, and defenses have a hard time defending so many threats, and that explains the run they went on from February through the end of the season. 

Then the postseason came, which taught the coaching staff and the team to deal with situational threats that are rarely seen during the regular season. The OKC series was an advanced education in developing new offensive strategies on the fly, and if they hadn’t passed that test we wouldn’t be talking right now. 

So that’s what’s changed since we met. There was the final meeting of the year in that stretch, which New York won, and it’s apparent that the Knicks are a different beast from any of the previous Spurs opponents because of how they handled SA during the 20+ game stretch in which their only loss was to the Knickerbockers. Then as if that weren’t enough, they unlocked KAT’s point center module and started tearing through teams. San Antonio made it past the defending champs largely through size and physicality, but New York has shooting AND length. They have size at the wing that can dwarf the Spurs, and they’re on a win streak longer than the Thunder’s 8-0 run to start the playoffs. 

All that to say, I haven’t seen enough of the Knicks’ recent games to have anything close to a good foundation to make an educated guess from. So I have some questions that would help me get ready for the series; some about basketball, some about the fanbase, and some about you: Has point KAT been that big a deal? In other words, was placing the ball in his hands the move that facilitated the 9-0 win streak? How much point KAT have they been using?

R.R.

Indeed, like the Spurs, New York has improved since December — and not just by dumping Guerschon Yabusele. It took a while to get cooking, though.

“Wemby suddenly showed that he’d learned he didn’t have to be the center of the offense for the team to win.”

You could say the same about Jalen Brunson.

Throughout the season, many complained that Mike Brown should play Brunson off the ball more often, for multiple reasons. It saves his legs, and it diversifies the offense. But the Knicks kept drilling the same formula repeatedly.

Through two seasons, the Towns-Brunson pairing was never as successful as it could have been. Countless games started stale and didn’t improve until the reserves came in to mix up the lineup. Usually, KAT would flourish while Jalen rested in the second quarter, and he’d get some buckets in the third, letting Jalen take center stage in the fourth.

Here’s another gripe: For whatever reason (either by his choice or the coach’s) KAT doesn’t post up. It didn’t happen under Thibs, either, so you can draw your own conclusions. We came to accept it, but it drove some of the fanbase nuts.

Anyway, the first three games of the playoffs followed the same script they tried all season. And after falling behind 1-2 to the clearly less-talented Hawks (losing each game by one point), many fans wondered if our hopes had been too high.

Then, a change. Point-KAT was unleashed; the team started playing faster, exploiting more fast-break opportunities; the scoring load was shared across all five starters (plus one sharpshooting Shamet); and their defense has bordered on criminally abusive. They unlocked an unprecedented level of beautiful basketball during their 11-game winning streak — and their historic numbers back it up.

Some specific changes we’ve seen is Mikal Bridges bringing the ball up the court more often, and Hart taking off on a sprint if he’s hauled in a rebound. That means a good defender has to chase Jalen around away from the ball, while the other four starters go to work — and each can shoot or attack the rim.

Karl is an exceptional passer. As the hub, he can thread a pass to a cutter, zip it out to a corner (and from there it swings until an open shooter is found), rise up for a high-percentage shot, or put his shoulder down and drive to the cup.

So the Knicks unlocked basketball nirvana by relying less on Brunson as the primary ball handler, rocketing defensive rebounds down the court for fast-paced buckets, and letting KAT operate as a hub. Just as the Spurs learned to rely less on Wemby, the Knicks did the same with Jalen. And, lo and behold, both players became even more valuable to their teams.

A few Q’s for you. Where do you think the Spurs will most surprise the Knicks? What vulnerabilities worry you the most? (You mentioned size, but most of your key guys are 6’5” and up — and Wemby is a friggin’ tree.)

J.R.

When the NBA Cup final was over, who could have expected that both teams would be in the Finals because their centers started initiating their offense as 7-foot point guards? Well it’s happened. I know that KAT has spent far more time in that role, but Point Wemby made a significant contribution at the beginning of Game 7 in OKC and it helped the Spurs build their first lead. So I’m wondering how much of that we’ll see in the Finals, and I’m enjoying with anticipation the media losing their minds over a series in which centers are leading their teams in assists. With how much of a copycat league this is, it would be interesting to see how far the idea can go. 

As to how the Spurs will surprise the Knicks, I think it has to be with Dylan Harper. The rookie has played well all year, but there’s nothing about his play in the playoffs that looks the slightest bit like it’s his first season in the league. Of all the changes the Spurs have made since they’ve played NY, Harper’s emergence has to be the one that I think will have the biggest effect on the Finals because he’s like no one else at his age in ages, literally. When his numbers aren’t matching Magic Johnson’s rookie playoff stats, they’re setting rookie postseason records. If he hadn’t gotten an adductor injury during the WCF, there’s no way he’d be able to surprise anyone because I believe that it would have been a shorter series, and he’d have been one of the major Spurs stories heading into the Finals. Even with the 3-4 subpar games from Dylan as he recovered his health, you can make a strong case that San Antonio doesn’t eliminate OKC without him. 

On the vulnerabilities front, it’s all about New York’s size for me. You’re right that the Spurs have big guards, but their forwards are undersized against most teams in the league. Against Anunoby and Robinson, they’re almost tiny. Also, San Antonio likes to guard opposing centers with a guard or a wing, so that Wemby can roam the paint and play Gandalf. (You shall not pass!) If they do that in the Finals then that’s another matchup the Spurs are small in, which could create rebounding problems and a bevy of other issues, crossmatching, etc. 

Ok, my questions for you: Who did you want to advance between the Thunder and the Spurs and why? And are you concerned about one of the consistent issues over the past few postseasons: rest-induced rust for the team that ended its series early?

R.R.

Cooper Flagg deserves his flowers, but Harper deserved more votes for Rookie of the Year. His skills and poise in the biggest moments have impressed us at P&T. Wemby, Castle, and Harper: three excellent drafts for you, my friend!

Upon examining the strengths and weaknesses of both Western Conference finalists, I argued that the Knicks should want to face the Spurs. Not the greatest take, in hindsight. I assumed that San Antonio’s youth and mounting fatigue after a grueling three rounds would make them less formidable than the defending champion Thunder. Furthermore, many of these young Spurs had never played so many games without a break, counting both the regular season and the postseason. After watching them lay out OKC on the road in a closeout game, I should probably surrender my sportswriting license.

Now I’m a little worried that the Knicks have had too much time off. It wouldn’t astonish me if New York loses Game One. They’ve played just eight games in the past month, and while that absolutely keeps them fresh, allows for injury recovery, etc., I wonder how they can maintain their game conditioning. Playing 40+ minutes of NBA basketball is different from 40 minutes on a stationary bike. You’ll recall that they were pretty rusty early in Game One against Cleveland after nine days’ rest. They fell behind by 22 points before their amazing, miraculous, one-for-the-ages comeback to win in overtime.

Excuse me while watch that fourth quarter and overtime again.

Phew, I’m back. Needed a shower after that. . . . Yeah, so, this break between Game Seven and the Finals might actually be the perfect length for San Antonio — long enough to get healthy and prepare for its opponent, short enough not to lose momentum — while eight days off might not be ideal for New York.

Question for you: Has there been any word on De’Aaron Fox’s high-ankle sprain? He seemed really limited in the Thunder series, but I’d imagine he’s getting better all the time (forgive the obligatory Beatles reference). How do you feel when Castle plays lead guard? I recall he had an 11-assist, 11-turnover double-double in Game One of the WCF.

J.R.

Your request for an Official Sportswriting License from the Guild of Legitimate Sportswriters was approved? Lucky! I guess I shouldn’t wonder; you live in New York state after all. Must be nice to cover the largest media market in the hemisphere. Meanwhile, we small market folk have to make do with the sportswriting licenses we find at the bottoms of a cereal boxes. But that didn’t stop me from getting mine laminated and displaying it proudly in my home office workstation right next to my typewriter, my dogeared copy of the AP Stylebook, and my horn-rimmed glasses with the old prescription that I only use to focus the sun to burn ants after the Spurs lose. 

As for the Knicks’ Game 1 comeback win, there is no shame in re-re-watching those recaps, particularly when you have so much time to wait before your team can generate new highlight reels. I’m only a couple days removed from Game 7, and I found myself going down the rabbit hole of one video after another and had to tear myself away when you messaged me to say it was my turn to write. That said, isn’t it interesting that both the Knicks and the Spurs had to endure overtime in the first game of their conference final series? Makes me wonder what other kinds of similarities there are to be uncovered over the next two and a half weeks.

In order to answer your question about any news concerning the condition of Fox’s ankle, I need to introduce you to the Spurs media landscape. This isn’t like the Big Apple where the media is strong enough to get a coach fired if they don’t get complete enough answers to their questions. In San Antonio, the tenure of the head coach doesn’t rely on anything except the good will of the owner, and that good will has essentially been granted to Gregg Popovich for life. (In case you don’t know, Popovich is still the president of basketball operations which means that he is the one in charge of hiring the general manager. In other words, Pop named his successor.) In this environment, we find out about the news concerning injuries at the same time that everyone else does: an hour and 15 minutes before tip off. So, no, there’s no additional word outside of our own speculation surrounding what kind of advanced treatment he’s receiving. (No need to apologize for Beatles references. I love the Fab Four.)

My feelings about Castle are not particularly complicated. First and second-year players aren’t known for being able to avoid turnovers, and Stephon is no exception. His exceptional qualities are so many and varied that I happily classify the turnovers as the price for entry. I remember hearing Steve Kerr, at the beginning of the Golden State dynasty, discuss the Warriors’ turnovers in terms that I’d never heard a coach use before. He said something to the effect that the team was at its best when the ball moved, and he would prefer that his players made mistakes while passing for advantage, as opposed to mistakes of passing omission. It sounded revolutionary at the time because Pop always considered turnovers an existential threat. Castle turns it over less frequently when Fox is out there to calm things down. The problem at the beginning of the Thunder series was Fox‘s absence, which hopefully won’t happen again. 

For my next queries, I have to go back to the All-Star game for the set up. Wemby and KAT played together and Victor got quite upset about more than one of Towns’ … defensive choices. Much seemed to be made about Wemby’s body language with people interpreting it as him blaming KAT for the loss. This also seemed to play into a reputation for a certain lack of focus on defense in high leverage moments. 

So my questions are: is this reputation earned, what forms do his miscues take, and are you concerned about how he’ll handle the kind of complex and fluid defensive schemes that success in the Finals requires?

R.R.

Ah, yes, I heard tales of sportswriters sharing malteds with Gregg Popovich on a bench outside the Alamodome while watching tumbleweeds roll by. Meanwhile, in the metropolis, writers interviewed players in the Champagne Room at Scores (allegedly). Alas, everyone’s too brand-conscious for such extracurricular hijinks these days, or at least they don’t invite me along for the fun.

True confession: I loved Pop as a coach. He was a gruff, fundamentals-focused skipper like Thibs, who deserves credit for laying the foundation that made this Finals appearance possible. Pop always seemed both perfectly suited to San Antonio and an odd fit. He got far more rope than he would have in New York thanks to the small market and his winning track record, yet he was also outspoken, unconcerned about offending the season-ticket-holder base. We saw one aspect of the man in front of the camera. The fact that former players like Tim Duncan are helping him recover from his stroke speaks volumes about his character (and theirs).

On the subject of injuries, the Knicks are notoriously tight-lipped as well. We may never know how Mitchell Robinson broke his finger. If Leon Rose & Co. hadn’t done such a tremendous job building the roster, they’d be pilloried for their silence. I believe Leon has sat for one interview in six years as president of basketball operations. Try getting away with that in any other city, or any other profession.

In my Game Two preview of the Eastern Conference Finals, I wrote something like, “Lord Silver must be smiling.” Early on, both conference finals looked destined to be epic when each began with an overtime thriller. Then the Cavs folded like laundry. While we were ecstatic that New York steamrolled the next three games, there wasn’t much drama to it.

The Finals should be a helluva show. I wouldn’t be surprised if both teams rip off a 15-point run every game, but a blowout either way feels unlikely–if the teams take turns, winning one, losing one, etc. My family and I live about three hours from the city, though my son in Brooklyn insists we’d be safer farther away during the Finals—maybe bunkered in an Airbnb in Buffalo. If the Knicks win, the fans might steal the Statue of Liberty. If they lose, City Hall could burn to the ground.

Regarding Castle’s turnovers: I’m too lazy to look it up, but Mike Brown recently explained why some turnovers are better than others. His logic shared the spirit of your Steve Kerr reference. Still, 11 giveaways is an Ooof. I hope Stephon will be as generous to the Knicks. You’re right, though; with Fox back, Castle will have fewer opportunities to cough up the rock.

Here’s the thing about Towns. Knicks fans have pulled out copious amounts of hair over two types of fouls: Karl’s occasional brain-fart foul and, worse, his hook-on-the-drive foul. His teammates didn’t care for them, either. You could see the blood drain from their faces when he hooked his way into another offensive infraction and then argued that he was the victim.

During this 11-game winning streak, however, Karl has played with discipline. We pray it continues. If he gets into foul trouble early against the Spurs, though, New York will be in trouble. Why? Mitch hasn’t exactly wowed us this postseason and has claimed to be dealing with mental health issues. Add a broken finger and he’s a real wildcard. Ariel Hukporti is the team’s third-string center. If you haven’t heard of him, there’s a reason for that.

Cleveland’s size neutralized Point-KAT early on in the conference finals. New York still won the battle in the paint, however, and pushed the pace to great effect. This series will be different, of course. We expect that Mitch Johnson will strategize to limit KAT, points in the paint will be hard won, and the Spurs will have springier legs than the Cavs, but we’re also sure that Mike Brown knows all this and will plan accordingly. The Knicks have so many offensive weapons, a stifled KAT just means that one of the other guys gets to eat.

I’m curious what similarities, and differences, you’ve seen between Johnson and Pop. And finally, what’s your pick for the series? Who wins, and in how many games?

J.R. 

The best description I have of Mitch Johnson is that he’s a updated version of Pop. There are so many similarities between them that it’s easier to describe the differences. Pop was famously against ever giving another team points. He lost a number of games over the years because he wouldn’t foul when up three, which allows the opponent to tie with a three and win in overtime. Johnson has ended my agony by handling end game strategy more to my liking. Also, San Antonio’s defense is far more modern than it was toward the end of Pop’s tenure. 

Before I make a prediction, I have to address the Jose Alvarado situation: SA’s coaches better have the guys trained up on his gambits so he can’t create extra possessions with his wonderful sneakiness. Also, there’s the fact that we haven’t yet discussed the player who’s guaranteed the championship ring this year, Jeremy Sochan. Just putting this here for the moment, so we remember to chop it up before the series is over. 

Now to the series: I like the Spurs in 6 (yes, even on the road at MSG), but I could see them winning in 7 or 5 depending how things break. First, they have the rust/rest early advantage. Second, I don’t think the Knicks have had to face the same quality of opponents that the Spurs have had to overcome and the adjustment to the level of play might be worth something in this series. Third, if San Antonio can keep Wemby off KAT and near the basket, then his ability to lock down the paint throws a major wrench into New York’s offense. 

So there you have it; I hate making predictions and you got one out of me. Anyway, here’s to an entertaining series opener, and I’ll see you on the other side!

If the Spurs want to win the NBA Finals, they'll have to buck this historical trend originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

In addition to having a 7-foot-4 alien who can shoot, pass, dribble and single-handedly stop elite offenses from getting to the rim, what makes the San Antonio Spurs’ run to the NBA Finals unique is they possess what most champions typically lack: youth.

When the NBA’s championship round tips off Wednesday night, the Spurs will be looking to become the youngest Finals winner in recent NBA history.

NBC News analyzed the average ages of NBA champions’ playoff rotations since 2016, and San Antonio would be the youngest team to win a title — out-young-ing last year’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Spurs rotation’s average age is 24.4, while their opponent, the New York Knicks, are coming in at a relatively ancient 28.8.

Compared with the overall average championship age of 27.8, San Antonio is 3.4 years younger, while the Knicks are 1.0 years older.

The Spurs aren’t just a relatively young team on the whole — their best players are also on the younger side.

San Antonio’s leading scorer in the postseason is center Victor Wembanyama, who is only 22 years old and in his third year in the league. Wembanyama would be the youngest leading scorer to lead his team to a Finals victory in recent history. (If he wins Finals MVP, he would join Magic Johnson and Kawhi Leonard as the youngest players to win it.)

The Spurs’ three leading scorers — Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox — would also be tied with last year’s Thunder as the youngest top-scoring trio of the last 11 NBA Finals.

Compared with New York, San Antonio is led by neophytes. The Knicks’ leading scorer, Jalen Brunson, is 29 and in his eighth season in the NBA. New York’s top three scorers — Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby — also average 29, with none younger than 28.

The median age of leading champion scorers is 27, with Wembanyama coming in a clean five years younger.

At least through three playoff rounds, youth and inexperience haven’t been barriers for the Spurs. They’ve already beaten a team that made two straight conference finals, the Minnesota Timberwolves, as well as last year’s champion, Oklahoma City, en route to the Finals.

In fact, less playoff seasoning may even help San Antonio.

“The lack of experience is a strength of us,” Wembanyama told ESPN on Tuesday. “Because we could do impossible stuff because we don’t know it’s impossible.”

If the Spurs want to win the NBA Finals, they'll have to buck this historical trend originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

In addition to having a 7-foot-4 alien who can shoot, pass, dribble and single-handedly stop elite offenses from getting to the rim, what makes the San Antonio Spurs’ run to the NBA Finals unique is they possess what most champions typically lack: youth.

When the NBA’s championship round tips off Wednesday night, the Spurs will be looking to become the youngest Finals winner in recent NBA history.

NBC News analyzed the average ages of NBA champions’ playoff rotations since 2016, and San Antonio would be the youngest team to win a title — out-young-ing last year’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Spurs rotation’s average age is 24.4, while their opponent, the New York Knicks, are coming in at a relatively ancient 28.8.

Compared with the overall average championship age of 27.8, San Antonio is 3.4 years younger, while the Knicks are 1.0 years older.

The Spurs aren’t just a relatively young team on the whole — their best players are also on the younger side.

San Antonio’s leading scorer in the postseason is center Victor Wembanyama, who is only 22 years old and in his third year in the league. Wembanyama would be the youngest leading scorer to lead his team to a Finals victory in recent history. (If he wins Finals MVP, he would join Magic Johnson and Kawhi Leonard as the youngest players to win it.)

The Spurs’ three leading scorers — Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox — would also be tied with last year’s Thunder as the youngest top-scoring trio of the last 11 NBA Finals.

Compared with New York, San Antonio is led by neophytes. The Knicks’ leading scorer, Jalen Brunson, is 29 and in his eighth season in the NBA. New York’s top three scorers — Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby — also average 29, with none younger than 28.

The median age of leading champion scorers is 27, with Wembanyama coming in a clean five years younger.

At least through three playoff rounds, youth and inexperience haven’t been barriers for the Spurs. They’ve already beaten a team that made two straight conference finals, the Minnesota Timberwolves, as well as last year’s champion, Oklahoma City, en route to the Finals.

In fact, less playoff seasoning may even help San Antonio.

“The lack of experience is a strength of us,” Wembanyama told ESPN on Tuesday. “Because we could do impossible stuff because we don’t know it’s impossible.”

Florida State head coach Luke Loucks wants to approach recruiting and the transfer portal a little differently than other big schools. The Seminoles aren’t a blue blood, but they can certainly outpace and outperform those schools under his watch.

Coming from the NBA coaching circles, Loucks has seen the best of the best. He did help coach Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green with the Golden State Warriors after all. 

$19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage

So what’s the pitch for Florida State basketball? They’re coming off an 18-15 campaign in his first season at his alma mater, so something’s going right!

“Yeah, so we can do things a little bit differently than most staffs in America,” Loucks said on Pardon My Take. “There’s probably two other staffs that can do what we can do and preach the message, in terms of, you come to Florida State, we are going to train you like a pro, because that’s all we know. Half of our staff came from the NBA. So, in terms of your player development, your nutrition, your weight room, all these kids say they want to get to the NBA, but then they train like college kids. 

“Now, the great ones will get there either way. It doesn’t matter, but for all those guys in the fringes, like you’re training like a college player, and I’ll tell them, I used to run draft workouts for multiple organizations. The best college players would get an NBA workout and have no idea, because everything’s different – spacing is different, the cutting is different, ball movement’s different, the terminology is different. We’re going to train you like an NBA player before you get there, so when you get there, you don’t just get there, you can stick. And I think that’s first and foremost.” 

Loucks isn’t just going after the big fish. Him and his staff know where to find the diamonds in the rough and that can make Florida State a special place.

“The second thing I’m a big believer in buying stock low,” Loucks said. “And right now, like, we haven’t been to a tournament in four or five years, but you can feel the momentum of, like, all right, we got some good things going.

“You can go to one of these top programs, and I’m not going to name them, and just be another guy on their list of, or you can come to Florida State and help us turn this into one of those programs. And to me, a lot of kids resonate with that, like I go to Florida State and, like, be one of the guys everyone remembers. Or you can go to Big Blue Blood and, like, yeah, you’re just a list of another 100 guys, no one’s gonna remember you.”

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight, Karl-Anthony Towns will anchor the center position for the New York Knicks against the San Antonio Spurs. It’s been a long and bumpy road for the former number one overall pick, but Towns has finally reached the summit of the NBA Playoffs.

KAT is playing the best basketball of his career. In these playoffs, he is averaging 16.9 points per game on incredible 57/49/89 shooting splits while putting up 10.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game as the Knicks have won 11 straight games en route to their first Finals appearance since 1999.

It wasn’t that long ago, though, that many would have thought all of that would be impossible for Towns, a fact Minnesota Timberwolves fans know all too well. In his first eight NBA seasons, Towns and the Wolves made the playoffs just three times as KAT drew criticism after each series.

In his first two playoff games in 2018, Towns scored a total of just 13 points as James Harden, Chris Paul, and the Houston Rockets took a 2-0 series lead. In the series-defining Game 3 of the 2022 series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Towns took just four shots as Memphis came back from 20 points down (nearly twice) to take control of the series.

Towns played better in the 2023 loss to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets, but ultimately, the Wolves were 0-3 in the playoff series with huge questions looming about Towns’s ability to be an effective player in the Playoffs.

All of that changed for KAT in the 2024 Playoffs.

During the 2023-24 regular season, the Wolves won 56 games, earned the three-seed after sitting on top of the Western Conference for much of the season, and, despite being underdogs, swept Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and the Phoenix Suns for the franchise’s first playoff series win in 20 years.

Towns guarded Durant the entire series and held his own against a matchup that, on the surface, seemed primed to play KAT off the court. In the series-ending Game 4, KAT put up 28 points on 11-17 shooting from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc.

It was the first data point that proved a team with Towns as one of its top players could win big games in the Playoffs. With Anthony Edwards ascending and Rudy Gobert sharing the frontcourt, Towns ceded the spotlight, accepted his smaller role, and flourished as the team’s secondary scorer.

It was also a gigantic moment for the Timberwolves franchise, which had only won two previous playoff series in its history. While the previous two decades had seen little success, that series victory in Phoenix signaled a new era of Timberwolves basketball.

The Timberwolves kept it rolling in the next series against the defending champion Nuggets, eliminating them in seven games to reach the Western Conference Finals.

Towns, with the help of Gobert, guarded reigning-MVP Nikola Jokić and, similar to Durant in the previous round, kept his matchup in check as much as anyone can against one of the greatest players in the history of basketball.

That entire series culminated with Game 7 in Denver when the Wolves came back from down 20 points in the second half. Towns was the Wolves’ leading scorer that night and kept the game from spiraling out of control in the first half when no one else on the Wolves could score.

KAT punctuated the win with the putback dunk with less than a minute left and the final defensive rebound as the clock hit zero. If the victory over the Suns wasn’t validation, this one against the Nuggets certainly was, as the game and series stand as possibly the best moment in the history of the Timberwolves franchise.

Following the game, Towns gave one of the best postgame quotes in the history of the Timberwolves. In classic KAT fashion, he responded, “How much more we gotta lose?” to a question about the team needing to lose before they win in the NBA Playoffs.

KAT had done plenty of losing, but that time is over now.

The winning in 2024 has continued for KAT since he was traded to New York. Last season, Towns eliminated the reigning champion for the second straight season, taking down the Boston Celtics as the Knicks made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years.

Now, they are in the NBA Finals and sit just four wins away from NBA immortality.

In two short years, the narrative of Towns’s career has completely flipped from an overpaid liability to a fundamental piece of three straight conference finalists and a potential NBA champion. Now, starting Wednesday night in San Antonio, Towns has a chance to put an exclamation point on everything and become a New York City legend.

Some Timberwolves fans in Minnesota will be jealous of the Knicks’ success, try to re-litigate the trade that sent Towns to New York, or wallow in what they see as a validation of their Minnesota sports doomerism.

Many more will be cheering for KAT and the Knicks and will celebrate their success if they actually win the championship.

I know I will.