Category: Basketball

The Spurs have a “serious problem” if Karl-Anthony Towns can build on his Game 1 dominance for the rest of the NBA Finals.

ESPN star and NBA champion Kendrick Perkins lauded the Knicks’ center for his outing on Wednesday night and declared that he “exposed” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

“Imma tell the Spurs fans this, y’all got a problem…y’all have a serious problem,” Perkins said Thursday on ESPN’s “First Take.”

Towns’ dominant performance saw the big man post 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in New York’s 105-95 win — but his contributions went far beyond the offensive side.

Kendrick Perkins says KAT EXPOSED Victor Wembanyama last night:

“Imma tell the Spurs fans this, y’all got a problem. Y’all have a serious problem. The DPOY got exposed last night…. He showed the world that Wemby can’t guard him!” pic.twitter.com/HcG8DbOlJE

— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) June 4, 2026

Wembanyama, who finished third in NBA MVP voting, was kept to a pedestrian 26 points on 6-of-21 shooting, including an abysmal 2-for-12 mark with Towns as the primary defender.

The 7-foot-4 phenom also committed four of his six turnovers with Towns covering him.

“The Defensive Player of the Year got exposed last night,” Perkins said. “‘Imma say this. Yes, Towns played the best defensive game of his life last night, but offensively, he showed the world that Wemby can’t guard him. He is a matchup problem for the Spurs.

“The way his ability to stretch the floor, and then he showed his versatility by his ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. He was going through Wemby’s chest. He wasn’t shying away from physicality. And when they decided to put a smaller player on him, guess what the Knicks did? They searched him out. Here we go, go to you. And when Wemby came to double, he was dropping no-looks, he was dropping passes, he was finding shooters.

Towns was instrumental in the Knicks’ 14-point comeback win, including a monster third quarter where he notched 10 points and four rebounds — while also hyping up his teammates.

Knicks coach Mike Brown praised Towns’ versatility after the thrilling victory.

“He’s a problem. You put a small guy on him, he’s got a chance to offensive rebound. You put a big guy on him, he’s got a chance to pick-and-pop and go around guys,” Brown said.

“We have to just keep trying to move him around based on who is guarding him throughout the course of the ballgame, but he was huge for us with his double-double.”

SAN ANTONIO — Jose Alvarado’s first thought when Jalen Brunson hobbled off the court and went to the locker room echoed what every Knicks fan was thinking. 

“He better come back,” Alvardo recalled of the development early in Wednesday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals. 

Then his instincts took over. 

“My second thought is, this is what I do. I wasn’t scared of the moment,” the backup Knicks point guard said Thursday. “This is something I live for, and I just want to take advantage of it and do what the team needs.”

Alvarado was part of another strong effort from the Knicks bench, their reserves piling up 28 points on 11-of-25 shooting in a 105-95, come-from-behind win over the Spurs.

There were major contributions from Mitchell Robinson (six rebounds), Landry Shamet (13 points) and Miles McBride (six points, four assists, plus-11 rating). 

Alvarado was critical, tallying seven points and four rebounds in the first half while Brunson was getting his knee checked out. He was the first Knick to really challenge Victor Wembanyama, and he drew a goaltending call on the 7-foot-4 superstar. 

“I don’t fear nobody,” Alvarado said. “He’s a great player, he’s going to block shots regardless of what you do. That one went my way.” 

The quality of the second unit is the biggest difference between this year’s Knicks and the edition that lost in the Eastern Conference finals a year ago.

It has been evident throughout the postseason, but particularly in the conference semifinals against the 76ers, when OG Anunoby suffered a mild hamstring strain. McBride and Shamet emerged in his absence. The group has also enabled the starters to stay fresh. 

The Knicks bench is seventh in points per game and eighth in minutes among the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs.

A year ago, the unit was 15th in both categories. They aren’t nearly as reliant on the starters. 

“Opportunity was the main thing,” McBride said when asked what coach Mike Brown has done well with developing the second unit. “He’s putting a lot of guys in different spots and he’s just allowing us to be us. We can play at a high level. I feel like a lot of guys can be starters at different places. We’re all happy here, we’re happy to impact the game at such a high level.”

Donald Trump, a longtime New York Knicks fan, said he plans to attend an NBA finals game at Madison Square Garden next week at the invitation of the team’s owner.

Describing himself as a “big fan” of the team and owner James Dolan, Trump said Thursday that he will be in the arena for at least one game next week. The NBA believes it would make him the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals game.

Related: NBA finals: in a mud wrestle shaped by 53 years of dread, Jalen Brunson was the difference

“The answer is yes – he’s invited me, I’m going,” Trump said of Dolan’s invitation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he was eyeing Game 3 on Monday but didn’t rule out Game 4 on Wednesday. “Maybe I’ll do both.”

Trump, who is simultaneously contending with a war in Iran, strife in Congress and looming midterm elections, said he made sure to catch some of Game 1 on Wednesday as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

“I missed the middle because I talk to generals all night long now, but I watched that end of the game and they were dominant,” Trump said. “Really amazing.”

Asked about his plans for next week, Trump went on to offer his own game recap, giving nothing but praise for the Knicks. Taking questions after an event on his administration’s efforts to promote the US coal industry, Trump said it “wasn’t looking good” for the Knicks early on but commended them for holding back Victor Wembanyama, the towering Spurs center.

“I say, how do you guard this guy? He’s 7ft 5in and he’s got a great shot, right? But they find a way to do it. They’re really great.”

The NBA said it believes no other sitting president has attended an NBA finals game. Earlier Thursday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said some former presidents had attended. He recalled Trump as a Knicks fan long before his political career.

“Donald Trump, before he ever ran for office, he was a big Knicks fan,” Silver said. “I was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days. He attended many of our drafts when they used to take place at Madison Square Garden.”

Silver reiterated a message he conveyed Wednesday amid reports that Trump might attend – that sports can be unifying, even in deeply divided political times.

“We can emphasize what we have in common, not what pulls us apart,” Silver said. “We’re seeing that in New York and I think President Trump is very much a New Yorker, and I’m thrilled that yet another New Yorker wants to participate in the enthusiasm and the joy around this Knick team.”

The commissioner acknowledged that Trump’s presence will require extra security in and around Madison Square Garden. That would almost certainly mean longer transit times and logistical issues for fans.

“I think the fans are very understanding of that,” Silver said. “I think they recognize that it adds to the bigness of the event.”

Trump is not expected to be the only prominent political figure at the Garden for the first NBA finals staged at the arena since 1999. New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has also said he plans to attend Monday’s game, though he suggested there is little chance the two will cross paths.

“I will be in a very different section,” Mamdani said Thursday at an unrelated news conference.

The mayor’s office said he would be paying his own way for a ticket that was fetching upwards of $8,000 on the secondary market as of Thursday afternoon. Trump, meanwhile, said he would be attending as Dolan’s guest, setting up a finals scene that could feature two of New York’s most prominent political figures under one roof.

Consider Lonzo Ball a big Jalen Brunson fan.

After Brunson hit clutch shots down the stretch in the Knicks’ Game 1 win in the NBA Finals over the Spurs on Wednesday night, Ball, the NBA point guard, declared Brunson the best Knicks player ever in an X post.

“Late commentary here but Brunson the best Knick to do it… like ever,” Ball wrote.

Brunson scored 30 points in New York’s 105-95 win as the Knicks rallied from a 14-point deficit in the third quarter.

With the Knicks trailing 95-94 with 1:50 to go in the fourth, the 29-year-old hit a corner 3 to put New York up by two points and give the team a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Wednesday night’s heroics, however, were just a small snippet of how dominant Brunson has been during his four years with the Knicks.

After signing a four-year deal with New York in 2022, Brunson has turned the Knicks into a perennial playoff contender with his shot-making prowess and crafty finishing.

The former Mavericks guard has averaged over 24 points per game every year in a Knicks uniform, including a career-high 28.7 in 2023-24.

But even after Brunson helped lead the Knicks to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, not all fans agree with Ball’s bold statement.

“Not yet. Clyde and Willis are ahead of him for now, but him and Ewing are debatable,” Knicks fan account @BrunsonIsMVP posted on X Thursday afternoon.

“There is a guy named Walt Frazier who won TWO TITLES for the @nyknicks,” X user @DGUNZ22 also posted.

Some fans think that Brunson can be deemed the best Knick of all time, but they believe he has to win three more games to earn that title.

After his big Game 1, Brunson and New York look to head home up 2-0 in the series.

Game 2 is set for Friday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly made a decision on their superstar.

Bucks ownership is expected to move on from Giannis Antetokounmpo before the 2026 NBA Draft, according to insider Brett Siegel. 

“We have heard from multiple sources, one of which is from a team that was involved in Giannis trade chatter at the trade deadline, that have said the Bucks made up their decision and ownership will be moving on from Giannis Antetokounmpo before the NBA Draft,” Siegel said on the ClutchPoints podcast.

Antetokounmpo has spent his entire career with the Bucks after being drafted 15th overall in 2013.

But now it seems like his time in Wisconsin is coming to an end. 

Since winning a championship with the team in 2020, the Bucks have been unable to reach the Conference Finals.

This year, they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. 

Antetokounmpo has just one more year plus a $62.8 million player option for the 2027-28 season.

Rather than lose him for nothing in free agency, the Bucks have reportedly been shopping him around since the trade deadline. 

Milwaukee received many offers before the deadline, but decided to hang on to Antetokounmpo until at least the offseason.

Then last month, Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslem stated that he preferred the team make a decision on Antetokounmpo before the draft, which kicks off on June 23.

Now that the team is seemingly ready to let Antetokounmpo go, one team from the trade deadline sweepstakes has emerged as a favorite to land the two-time NBA MVP.

Various reports have pegged the Miami Heat as the most likely destination for Antetokounmpo.

While the Heat remain in front, other teams, such as the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics, have been rumored to have interest in Antetokounmpo.

One of the biggest takeaways from the New York Knicks’ come-from-behind win in Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals is that the San Antonio Spurs blew it by leaving rookie guard Dylan Harper on the bench in crunch-time.

The Spurs chose to ride with their $230 million man De’Aaron Fox in the last four minutes of regulation, and he missed an easy jump shot and then bailed out the Knicks with a stupid foul that helped swing the game for New York. Fox ended the night with seven points on 3-of-13 shooting in 38 minutes, while Harper was electric off the bench with 16 points. Right now, Harper feels like the better player even though he’s just 20 years old.

A strange TikTok popped up on Dylan Harper’s page the day after the game. Harper reposted a video with the title “De’Aaron Fox seen honoring playoff James Harden after shooting one of his statline.” The video showed Fox’s 3-for-13 box score line next to Harden’s 3-for-13 line in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 2 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the first round. The video is no longer on Harper’s page, but multiple people confirmed it was indeed there earlier.

Watch the video here:

Dylan Harper’s latest repost on TikTok 😳 pic.twitter.com/vctXS23FXf

— The Strickland (@TheStrickland) June 4, 2026

The most likely explanation here is that Harper accidentally reposted the video to his page without realizing what he was doing.

Harper played 28 minutes in Game 1. Fox played 38 minutes. If Harper continues to be more effective, head coach Mitch Johnson will have to make a tough decision to sit a veteran for a rookie.

Harden is a famous playoff dropper. I wouldn’t put Fox in that category yet, but he hasn’t been very good during this Spurs run. In his defense, Fox has been playing through an ankle sprain that he suffered in the Western Conference Finals. Harper is also playing through an abductor injury.

I wouldn’t blame Harper is he felt frustrated with his role in Game 1 especially after such a hot start. He can’t air his grievances on social media, even if it was by accident. Chalk this up to a rookie mistake by Harper. He doesn’t make many of them.