Worldwide Sports News

The NBA will have a unique champion for the eighth straight year. The San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks are squaring off in a 2026 NBA Finals matchup no one could have seen coming. Before this stretch, the league had never had more than six consecutive unique champions, which happened from 1975-1980. No team has won multiple titles over the last eight years, and no team has even repeated as a conference champion since the 2019 Golden State Warriors.

Why is there so much parity in the NBA right now? It’s mostly a combination of salary cap changes and injuries. The Oklahoma City Thunder seemed primed for a dynasty when they won the championship a year ago, but the Spurs beat them in a fantastic Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals with their second and third best creators out in Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell.

The NBA is left with a rematch of the 1999 Finals, which the Spurs won in five games over New York. It’s going to be incredible watching Victor Wembanyama chase his first championship in Madison Square Garden against a Knicks fanbase desperate for their first championship since 1973. Let’s preview the series from both sides and make a championship pick.

The case for the Knicks

The Knicks just played the best 11-game stretch in league history — and somehow that’s not an exaggeration. This team is red hot right now, and they’re playing with full belief that they can deliver New York its first NBA championship since 1973.

The Spurs haven’t faced a true stretch five who can pull Wembanyama away from the basket on this playoff run. Enter Karl-Anthony Towns, the best three-point shooting center of all-time, who has suddenly been unlocked as the best version of himself over the last six weeks. Towns feels like the most important player in the series for New York. He’s a threat to score 25+ feet away from the basket, and that could potentially take Wemby away from defending the paint. The Spurs can try to stick Wembanyama on Josh Hart or another Knick, but that will create some problems for San Antonio, too.

It’s easy to discount Jalen Brunson, but he’s led his team to championships in high school and in college, and consistently rises to the occasion in the biggest moments. While the Spurs defended another mid-range shooter in Gilgeous-Alexander well in the West Finals, it’s worth noting that Brunson has a much higher three-point volume, taking 35.8 percent of his field goals from deep, compared to 22.6 for SGA. Brunson’s pull-up three ball will have to be a weapon in this series. The fact that he’s not much of a rim attacker means Wembanyama needs to come out higher on the floor when he’s not getting spaced out of the play by Towns. For as good as the Spurs’ defense is, Brunson has shown that he has so many counters to effectively get off his offense.

I’m fascinated to see how often and how effectively Anunoby defends Wembanyama. It feels like the best Wemby defenders are long and strong wings who are quick enough to neutralize him off the bounce, and Anunoby might be the best example of such a defender. Turning Wemby into a shooter is in the Knicks’ best interest, so if Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson can keep him out of deep post position, that’s a good start for a winning recipe.

The Knicks are also the much fresher team. While San Antonio just played a physically and emotionally draining 7-game series in the West, the Knicks have been chilling at home after consecutive sweeps. Sure the Knicks might be a little rusty at the start of Game 1, but that rest advantage will carry over through the remainder of the series.

It certainly feels like the Knicks have more offensive firepower than San Antonio. Brunson and Towns is an elite scoring duo, and Mikal Bridges and Anunoby can each carry the offense for a game or two themselves. De’Aaron Fox hasn’t been at his best for the Spurs basically the whole season, and asking Dylan Harper to immediately ascend to a true No. 2 option as a 20-year-old is a lot. The Knicks just have so much scoring punch in their eight-man rotation, and it’s conceivable that not even Wembanyama can slow them down.

Madison Square Garden is about to turn into one of the greatest environments in NBA Finals history. Knicks fans are craving a championship, and the team will be ready.

The case for the Spurs

It feels like Victor Wembanyama ascended to best player in the world status during the Western Conference Finals, which is a terrifying thought considering he’s only 22 years old and still has plenty of room to grow as a player. When he’s really locked in, Wemby looks like a 7’5 Kevin Durant capable of self-creating step-back threes while also being a dominant a rim runner and arguably the most impactful defender in NBA history.

How will the Knicks guard Wembanyama? It’s a question that could define the series. New York only has two 7-footers on the roster with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson, but Robinson recently suffered a broken pinky that should linger into the Finals. New York can also use OG Anunoby to guard Wembanyama, and that might be their best matchup. For as long and strong as Anunoby is, Wemby is still going to be able to shoot over the top of him whenever he wants to. If the French superstar gets hot as a jump shooter or from floater range, the Spurs will immediately have an advantage New York can’t neuter. Even if Anunoby is effective for stretches, the Knicks will still need other defenders to soak up minutes against him, and their options are pretty limited.

Wemby’s impact is even bigger on defense, especially with so many good perimeter defenders in front of him. Stephon Castle did an outstanding job on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with Wemby lurking behind him, and that same duo will cause plenty of problems for Jalen Brunson. Like SGA, Brunson takes a lot of his shots from mid-range, which Wemby’s length can help evaporate. Brunson took 51% percent of his field goal attempts from mid-range this season, per Cleaning the Glass. The Spurs feel uniquely equipped to defend that kind of superstar shot profile.

The Spurs’ role players are also fully locked in right now. Julian Champagnie had a breakout conference finals series with multiple 20-point games and consistently good rebounding. Devin Vassell is playing the best ball of his career. Dylan Harper is already taking over playoff games at times at 20 years old. Luke Kornet is one of the league’s better backup centers, and could rebound from a tough matchup vs. the Thunder.

San Antonio’s defense will really be in the spotlight for this matchup. The Knicks’ offensive rating has jumped from 118.7 in the regular season to 123.3 in the playoffs, by far the best mark in the postseason. Meanwhile, San Antonio’s defensive rating has gone from 110.4 in the regular season (No. 3 overall) to 104.4 in the playoffs (second-best behind the Knicks). The Spurs’ defense feels built for the playoffs with more contact allowed on the perimeter and Wembanyama being almost adjustment-proof. If the Spurs can limit New York’s three-point attempts, Wemby can take care of the rest inside.

In what feels like a pretty even matchup, the tiebreaker should go to the team with the best player. That’s Wembanyama.

Prediction: Spurs in 7

This truly feels like a toss up to me, but I’m going with San Antonio in seven for a few reasons.

The Knicks’ romp through the East has been incredibly impressive, but they haven’t seen anything like the Spurs. The Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers are all two steps below San Antonio at least. I’m not sure if the Knicks’ hot three-point shooting is sustainable. Landry Shamet just shot 91.7 percent from three in the Eastern Conference Finals (not a typo). Is that really going to happen again? The Knicks have plenty of shooters on the floor at all times, but the windows disappear a lot quicker when someone like Wembanyama is closing out on you.

I was tempted to go Knicks in six here. New York clearly has a path to victory, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if they routed the Spurs the same way they’ve routed everyone else in their way on this playoff run.

If the Spurs can extend the series to seven, they will get the final game on their home floor. Weird things can happen in a Game 7, and I typically prefer the team with the best overall player. Wembanyama already slayed the biggest challenger in the league in his first playoff run. I think he’s ready to win a championship.

The family of a young San Antonio Spurs fan declared brain-dead after falling from a truck during a post-game celebration said they aren’t giving up hope yet as the teen is still “fighting for his life.”

Jose Luis Rodriguez III, known to loved ones as Joey, suffered a catastrophic head injury and has been in the hospital since Thursday’s accident following the Spurs’ Conference Finals win over the Oklahoma City Thunder to force a game seven.

“I believe in God, and I believe in miracles. I’m trying to hold on for my son, my daughter-in-law, and the rest of the family,” Rodriguez’s paternal grandmother told KSAT as she asked the city to pray for her grandson.

Rodriguez was declared brain dead by doctors after he landed on his head during wild celebrations following the Spurs’ win, which tied the Western Conference finals with the Thunder at 3-3.

The teenager was sitting on the passenger-side window of the vehicle when it hit the curb, and he fell and struck the sidewalk.

“He left blood all over the street,” Rodriguez’s aunt, Yvonne Hudson, told the San Antonio Express-News.

Initially, his parents hadn’t allowed him to take part in the honking celebration on San Antonio’s south side because of the “nonsense” happening on the streets, Hudson added.

But when Rodriguez said a friend’s parent would go with them, they agreed, although in the end, the teenager went solely with pals, Hudson said.

Friends took Rodriguez to a nearby clinic, where he had no pulse for eight minutes before he was transferred to a local trauma center due to the severity of his injuries.

Rodriguez’s family said he is “fighting for his life,” and they are holding out hopes for a recovery.

His grandmother said the teenager’s organs are still functioning despite his critical head injuries.

Hudson said when a family member touched the teen’s foot, his knee twitched, giving them hope, although doctors told them it was just a spinal reflex, not a sign of brain activity.

Police in San Antonio have urged fans to stay safe during celebrations for the playoffs, with rowdy rolling street parties becoming a daily occurrence.

The local tradition dates back to the Spurs’ 1999 NBA title run, and sees thousands of fans routinely fill the streets hanging outside of vehicles, parading on bikes, and even on horses.

“We encourage everyone celebrating to follow traffic laws, stay inside your vehicles, and follow directions from the officers who are there to keep everyone safe,” the San Antonio Police Department said in a statement.

The Spurs went on to complete the turnaround against the Thunder on Saturday, winning the Western Conference title — and setting up an NBA Finals showdown with the Knicks.

Ahead of the start of the finals on Wednesday, even Spurs star Dylan Harper used a news conference to urge fans to behave responsibly.

“I love y’all. Be safe out there in San Antonio,” he said. “I understand y’all are excited, but you got to be safe out there.”

As point guards coming out of a Kelvin Sampson-led program tend to do, Kingston Flemings, of the University of Houston, will come into the NBA with more than one trick in his bag. Playing under Sampson in his only year in the college game is perhaps another advantage he has over the bevy of attractive guard prospects invading the NBA in 2026.

Many recent mock drafts have Flemings going off the board at the seventh pick, to the Sacramento Kings. One recent mock, which should interest Dallas Mavericks fans, has Flemings falling all the way past Dallas at No. 9 to the Milwaukee Bucks at the 10th overall pick, with Dallas opting to trade the ninth pick and Kyrie Irving to the Charlotte Hornets for LaMelo Ball and the 14th and 18th overall picks. God, speculation is fun, isn’t it?

Flemings showed himself to be effective in the halfcourt, with an ability to dissect the opposing defense, but he’s also an elite downhill driver of the ball, creating space with both physicality and speed. Then there’s the shooting. Flemings shot nearly 39% from 3-point range for Houston as a freshman, but was much better off the catch than he was off the dribble.

The basics

Flemings was born in Newport News, Va., but was raised in San Antonio. He was named the Gatorade Texas Player of the Year during his senior season at Brennan High School, as well as a Naismith All-American. Despite all that, he wasn’t considered a certain one-and-done prospect entering his freshman season at Houston, but he soon proved to be one.

Among the most notable moments in his short college career was a 42-point explosion against Texas Tech, when he set a new high-scoring mark for a freshman at Houston. He shoots. He creates. He defends. You must if Sampson is going to trust you with the ball in your hands as a freshman, and Sampson did trust Flemings, to the tune of a 26% usage rate.

He creates his best offensive possessions when he gets into ball screens. He’s just a whiz at calculating advantageous matchups and executing as soon as the opportunity presents itself. His first step is lethal.

Strengths

That lethal first step is followed by a will to get to the bucket nearly unrivaled in the college game. He did slow down a bit in terms of efficiency at the rim as the season went along and the competition got tighter and tighter, but don’t discount his own explanation of part of his calculus when getting to the rim.

“We wanted to get the ball on the rim,” Flemings told NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor on a recent appearance on his Kevin O’Connor Show podcast. “Some of that is strategic when you have guys crashing. Some of it may have been a slight lack of focus, but part of it was also wanting to get the ball on the rim for those guys to go get it.”

Flemings actually moves the defense with his dribble, rather than simply trying to get past his man. You have to account for his speed at all times, and the advantages it creates can really fuel an NBA offense. It’s his elite athleticism that makes him special. Flemings jumps out of the gym with a 40.5-inch max vertical, and his sprint speed and agility in the lane separate him from the crowd.

Defensively, Flemings has a better foundation than almost every other freshman lead guard in the college game. He generates steals, pressures the ball, and plays with a high degree of competitiveness. The same cannot be said of all guards floating in the 7-10 range of NBA draft boards.

Concerns

Do his measurements from the NBA Draft Combine change his defensive ceiling in the NBA, though?

Flemings measures just 6-foot-2 and 1/2 without shoes, and his wingspan is just shy of 6-foot-4. He’s slight, at 183 pounds. Will he get pushed around in the NBA?

The question on his way to the rack in the NBA will be contact. The guards he’ll be facing are much bigger now. Will his physicality be enough on this level to make him as effective in getting to the bucket as he was in college?

He told O’Connor, to that end, that he was working hard on developing his floater and runner game in his time off after the college season. He realizes there are things he needs to work on, and above all else, this is a 19-year-old kid who hates losing.

Fit with the Mavericks

I’d be surprised if the Mavericks find themselves in a position where drafting Flemings is an option, but stranger things have happened. I believe he’d be a much better fit with the team than, say Darius Acuff Jr., and even a better fit than Mikel Brown Jr.

Flemings has a level of polish to his game at the tender age of 19 that few prospects possess. Thank Sampson and his rocket-launching legs for that. His live-dribble playmaking and his net-positive status on the defensive end would make him a near-perfect fit.

I also think he’s going to be able to inspire a little more confidence from 3-point range in the NBA than he did in college, which doesn’t mean his shooting was a problem with Houston. He just wasn’t a volume guy and he wasn’t that great shooting off the dribble.

“I’ve been working on getting to the same shot pocket [whether shooting off the dribble or off the catch],” Flemings told O’Connor. “I’m kind of shooting it wherever my dribble is [in film from college], so I’m working on getting to same shot pocket and getting more consistent.

“In the NBA, people want to shoot a lot more threes, so I’m going to shoot more threes. In college, we did what we needed to do to win.”

NBA comparison

In the recent conversation with O’Connor, Flemings listed Tyrese Maxey and De’Aaron Fox as two players he emulates. They’re not the biggest dudes either, but they have a nose for the bucket, and their 3-point shot has come along in the professional game, much like Flemings will look to do as more form the perimeter is asked of him starting next season.

Ajay Mitchell and Coby White may also come to mind. Even if he doesn’t become an elite lead guard, he could still be a microwave scoring engine like one of these guys.

It’s 10:59 p.m. Just about 24 hours since the final buzzer went off and the Spurs were crowned Western Conference Champions. Just under 24 hours ago Victor Wembanyama hoisted his WCF MVP trophy proclaiming this is just the first of many. Just under 24 hours since I sat in postgame press conferences and heard Mitch Johnson praise Luke Kornet’s block. Victor Wembanyama shared an emotional desire to talk to Pop. Both Dylan Harper and Julian Champagnie were wide-eyed, barely able to contain their excitement about playing their first NBA Finals in New York, the city where their love of basketball bloomed. And just before the night ended (at least ended at Paycom Arena), De’Aaron Fox gave a shout out to the NBA fans.

I was up for at least two hours talking about the Knicks/Spurs match up. My traveling companions were all taking in the Spurs victory, the team we’ve been writing about, many of us for years now. We discussed how the Knicks has a heavy duty line up. The physicality of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson is going to be a challenge for Victor Wembanyama. We predicted how Stephon Castle will match up against Jalen Brunson. And we started planning trips to New York.

I spent most of today driving back from Oklahoma City. Got in just in time to cook dinner, read to the kid, and visit with my wife. And here I sit now, still taking in the reality that the San Antonio Spurs are heading to the 2026 NBA Finals.

I grew up in San Antonio and have been a lifelong Spurs fan. I, like many of you, remember seeing games at HemisFair Arena. Even more of us experienced the Spurs play at the Alamodome, that huge blue curtain cutting a football stadium in half to house the city’s lone major sports franchise. And still more have possibly visited the SBC Center, AT&T Center, or Frost Bank Center. They’re all the same arena adjacent to the Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum, but the name has changed over the years.

I remember summers, watching the playoffs while home from college. Back then we had to get a pay-per-view box to watch blacked out Spurs games. (If you don’t know, ask your dad.) David Robinson was the star, but for a brief sliver of time while Dennis Rodman was on the team, his colorful hair and even more colorful personality pulled focus. The experiment didn’t work. Pretty soon the faces everyone associated with the Spurs were Robinson, Sean Elliott, and Avery Johnson. Not surprising they are the fourth, fifth, and sixth jerseys retired by the organization.

I left San Antonio after college and lived outside Texas until 2013, the year my daughter was born. So much of the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili Big Three Era took place while I was away. Since returning I have become a full-blown fan again. I even got my Midwestern wife on board. My daughter has embraced her fandom as well. Attending games has become part of our family’s tradition. 2014 was the perfect season to reignite my interest in basketball. I watched every single game of 2013-2014, soaking it up as the Spurs fought their way toward their fifth NBA title. I was hooked. My obsession with the hometown heroes eventually progressed until an outlet became available to me — Pounding the Rock. Nearly nine years and three-thousand articles later, I just received an email telling me where and when to pick up my NBA credentials for the Finals. Honestly, that is still sinking in for me. Not just that the Spurs are going to the Finals, but that I get to participate in the moment.

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be arriving early, staying late, packing, unpacking, flying, writing, rinsing and repeating. There is so much going on and it is all coming so quickly. I’m elated beyond words. Excited to be coving the team that has made such an imprint on me. Thrilled to share the experience, to write about the Finals.

How is this shaping up for you? Has it truly sunk in that the San Antonio Spurs are about to play in the NBA Finals? The team is looking to earn their sixth NBA title. For most of these young players, this postseason has been full of firsts. They have been labeled “inexperienced.” But each time some pundit counts them out, they rise to the moment and persevere. Time after time, they continue to prove they are ready.

Welcome to the NBA Finals, and Go Spurs Go!

“Four more to win.”

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

Max Shulga’s season is tricky to give a definitive grade. He spent the vast bulk of the season with Maine and appeared in just 11 NBA games, playing a minuscule 3.3 minutes per outing. The 6-4 Ukranian guard was selected with pick number 57 by Boston and signed a two-way contract with the Maine Celtics.

Boston Celtics fans outside of Maine probably saw Shulga play the most in the Summer League last year. Shulga appeared in all five games for the Summer Celtics in Vegas; he had 5 points, a smidge under 5 assists, and 1.6 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. With Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman on the team, Shulga deferred a fair bit, playing fairly conservatively, but should get a bigger opportunity this summer.

His debut Maine season was solid. He erupted for 35 points and 9 assists in Maine’s game at Iowa on Feb. 7, 2026. He showed versatility to score from behind the arc and get into lane and drive pass defenders to score with either hand. His shooting splits were just passable with 43% from the field and 73% from the line, and he will need to clear up the turnovers (3.2 per game) if he wants to find an NBA home long term.

Max is a fairly shifty combo guard but lacks elite NBA-level quickness. Max is not an elite athlete either, nor the greatest ball handler to run point, so this is where things get tricky.