oklahoma city– The last time the New York Knicks reached the NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs were the contender, and they happened to have the talent of a generational big man who was headed to the title round for the first time.
Deja vu.
At that time for the Spurs, it was Tim Duncan. This time for Tottenham, it’s Victor Wimpanyama. Here they are again: San Antonio vs. New York is the final game of the 2026 NBA Finals, the Spurs are looking to get back to the top of the basketball mountain for a sixth time and the Knicks are looking for their first championship in 53 years.
The first game will be played Wednesday in San Antonio.
It’s an attractive matchup for several reasons — among them, it’s a rematch of this season’s NBA Cup championship game that the Knicks won. It has the allure of a global capital like New York, it has the international element with a French star in Wimpanyama, and it spans an era of parity the likes of which the league has never seen before.
No matter who wins this series, this will be the eighth different franchise to win a title in the last eight seasons — the longest stretch in NBA history. Toronto won in 2019, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, then Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023, Boston in 2024, and Oklahoma City last year, and now either New York or San Antonio will be added to that list.
The Spurs’ win in Oklahoma City on Saturday night expanded another piece of the parity puzzle, as no defending champion has been able to return to the NBA Finals since Golden State’s win in 2018 and return in 2019.
The Knicks are trying to do something that hasn’t been done since the days of Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe and Phil Jackson – win it all. There have been 17 different teams (18 if the Thunder and Seattle SuperSonics are considered separately, as some fans prefer) that have celebrated championships since the Knicks last won the title, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning 11 crowns in that span, Boston winning seven, Chicago six and Golden State five.
They’re the talk of New York now, after earning their first Finals trip since 1999. The mood was much different a month ago, when New York trailed Atlanta 2-1 after two straight one-point losses in Games 2 and 3 of a first-round series.
New York is 11-0 since then, winning almost all of those games by blowout. Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said if the team didn’t hear the negative noise from the first round, it wouldn’t be able to hear all the lavish praise coming in now.
“When negative things are said about you, it’s important to ignore them,” Bronson said. “When there are positive things about you, it’s easy to be able to read them into making you feel good. But you can’t do one without the other. Just block it out the best you can.”
Series
Technically, the two teams tied 1-1 against each other. New York won two of the three meetings, but the NBA Cup Final — the 83rd game in an 82-game season — does not count in any league records or statistics.
The two teams won their home match against the other this season. Julian Champagne hit 11 3-pointers and Wembanyama scored 31 points as the Spurs beat New York 134-132 on December 31. The Knicks pulled away in the fourth to win 114-89 on March 1 to snap San Antonio’s 11-game winning streak, in addition to winning the Cup Final in Las Vegas.
Possibilities
As expected, Spurs – who have home advantage – are favorites to win the series. They are listed at -210 odds on Saturday night, meaning bettors would bet $210 to win $100.
The Knicks had +170 odds.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.