By Joe Vardon | The Athletic, 2026-06-14 03:31:03
圣安东尼奥——仿佛53年的等待还不够漫长，纽约尼克斯队在重新加冕NBA王者之前，还必须成为逆转奇迹的征服者。
任务完成。
这支驻扎在世界上最著名球馆、成立于1946年的NBA创始球队——因纽约早期荷兰移民而得名“尼克斯”（Knickerbockers）——迎来了自1973年以来的首个总冠军，这也是他们队史上的第三座总冠军奖杯。在2026年总决赛第五场中，他们以94-90再次逆转击败圣安东尼奥马刺队，令世人震惊。
总决赛MVP、这支球队的灵魂人物杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 在这场夺冠之战中狂砍45分，扛起了尼克斯队一度陷入挣扎的进攻。他在尼克斯队第四节最后阶段波澜壮阔的逆转中独得15分，并在整个系列赛中场均贡献32.6分。
纽约以4-1的总比分击败马刺，在圣安东尼奥赢下了全部三场客场比赛。在第四场比赛中，他们凭借OG·阿奴诺比 (OG Anunoby) 震惊世界的补篮，在下半场落后29分的情况下完成逆转，创造了NBA总决赛历史纪录。尼克斯在系列赛中的唯一一场失利同样具有历史意义——那是在现任美国总统、来自纽约的唐纳德·J·特朗普 (Donald J. Trump)现场观看总决赛的夜晚。
尼克斯在第五场中再次上演逆转。虽然这次的分差较小（16分），但他们依然赢下了一个在每场比赛第一节都至少落后10分的系列赛。第四节开始时纽约还落后7分，随后分差一度达到10分，之后他们再次发动了一次载入史册的反击。
最后四分钟气氛极其紧张，两队交替得分、互换领先。在比赛还剩1分05秒时，布伦森一记12英尺的急停跳投帮助尼克斯以90-88取得领先。马刺队新秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)——他周六晚上表现最出色，砍下25分——三分出手未中，随后乔什·哈特 (Josh Hart) 在比赛还剩26.1秒时罚中一球。哈特第二罚不中，但因尼克斯明星中锋卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns) 六犯离场而临危受命的米切尔·罗宾逊 (Mitchell Robinson) 抢下关键前场篮板，保住了球权。第四场的英雄阿奴诺比两罚一中，帮助尼克斯将领先优势扩大到4分。
经历了他总决赛表现最糟糕一役的斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)，在比赛还剩16.3秒时，接维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 三分不中后的补扣，打进了自己本场比赛的第一个运动战进球。尼克斯在随后的罚球大战中笑到最后，阿奴诺比在还剩7.7秒时的罚球命中为比赛盖棺定论。
22岁的法国超新星文班亚马——这位正致力于成为这项运动下一代领军人物的天才——不得不继续等待。他本场比赛得到19分和14个篮板。当他在终场哨响前最后一次三分尝试偏出时，看台高处的数千名纽约球迷爆发出了雷鸣般的掌声。
在马刺队弗罗斯特银行中心球馆举行的颁奖仪式上，大多数当地球迷可能已经回家默默疗伤，而球馆的上层看台则完全属于尼克斯球迷。成千上万的球迷涌向观众席的第一排，这一震撼的画面展现了这群在经历了五十载挫折后，绝不愿错过亲眼见证历史时刻的忠实拥趸。
53年是一段漫长的时光，漫长到足以让拉里·奥布莱恩冠军奖杯从第五大道的NBA总部办公室，跨越几个街区回到第八大道的麦迪逊广场花园。五十多年前，花园球馆的球迷头顶还飘着一缕缕烟雾。威利斯·里德 (Willis Reed) 步履蹒跚地走上赛场，赢得了1970年的总冠军。沃尔特·“侠盗”·弗雷泽 (Walter “Clyde” Frazier) 统治了比赛。雷德·霍尔兹曼 (Red Holzman) 在场边执教。
随后是五十多年的漫长等待，难道这一切都付诸东流了吗？其间有1994年和1999年的功败垂成。那些将永远载入尼克斯史册的名字：伯纳德·金 (Bernard King)、帕特里克·尤因 (Patrick Ewing) 和约翰·斯塔克斯 (John Starks)；查尔斯·奥克利 (Charles Oakley)、阿兰·休斯顿 (Allan Houston)、林书豪 (Jeremy Lin) 和卡梅隆·安东尼 (Carmelo Anthony)。
在此之前，纽约上一次打进总决赛还要追溯到1999年6月。那年10月，詹姆斯·多兰 (James Dolan) 被任命为麦迪逊广场花园主席，接管了尼克斯队。在随后的26年里，他与NBA联盟、尼克斯的功勋名宿以及嘘他的球迷们冲突不断。甚至在这段神奇的夺冠之旅接近尾声时，他还与纽约市长佐兰·马姆达尼 (Zohran Mamdani) 发生冲突，双方因取消户外观赛派对而互相指责。
但因为2026年的这座总冠军，多兰的执掌生涯将永远被赋予不同的评价。
这是一个新的黎明，新的一天，纽约人感觉棒极了。
从走南闯北的教练迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown) 到“维拉诺瓦帮”尼克斯。从上一次打进总决赛的尼克斯旧将（他恰好在自己那颗冉冉升起的超级巨星儿子以自由球员身份签约前一个月出任助理教练），到交易来流浪的唐斯（KAT）和这座城市最新的布里奇斯（米卡尔·布里奇斯 (Mikal Bridges)），尼克斯在篮球最大的舞台上，再次成为了这座最大城市的王者。
当然，“大苹果”纽约对重大体育赛事的冠军并不陌生。自1973年以来，洋基队赢得了七次世界大赛冠军；巨人队赢得了四次超级碗；岛人队夺得了四次斯坦利杯；大都会队、游骑兵队和自由人队在此期间也各获得过一次冠军。
但尼克斯呢？在这个被称为篮球麦加圣地的地方，这座冠军的意义截然不同。这一等待已经延续了半个多世纪。
“我们想说‘向尼克斯球迷的妻子们致敬’，因为她们一辈子都跟着承受了太多，”出生于南布朗克斯、更为人熟知的身份是嘻哈巨星“胖乔” (Fat Joe) 的约瑟夫·卡塔赫纳 (Joseph Cartagena) 说道。卡塔赫纳出生于1970年尼克斯夺得首冠后的几个月，他是麦迪逊广场花园“名人席”上众多忠实尼克斯球迷之一。
“我看到哈西迪犹太人在球馆外和黑人孩子一起跳霹雳舞，”卡塔赫纳补充道。“这是自9/11事件以来，你在生活中见过的纽约市最伟大的团结时刻。如果你想知道我们在9/11悲剧之后的感受。
“这就是你在纽约市各处看到的景象，所有人都在一起。这太疯狂了。”
纽约以53胜29负的战绩结束常规赛，位列东部第三，成为自2022年金州勇士队以来夺冠顺位最低的球队。
尼克斯在常规赛期间并没有单一的转折点。他们虽然在12月赢得了NBA季中锦标赛（NBA Cup）冠军（击败的正是马刺），但此后不久便遭遇了低谷，在截至1月中旬的11场比赛中输掉了9场。随后他们迎来了一波八连胜，从2月1日到常规赛结束，他们打出了23胜11负的战绩。
布伦森连续第二年领跑尼克斯队内得分榜，场均贡献整整26.0分。他没有获得任何一张MVP选票，但入选了年度最佳阵容第二阵。唐斯作为尼克斯的另一位全明星，场均得分和篮板较上年有所下降，分别为20.1分和11.9个篮板，因为他和主教练迈克·布朗在整个赛季中都在努力寻找唐斯在攻防两端的最佳定位。
季后赛的开局并不顺利——他们一度以1-2落后于东部第6的亚特兰大老鹰队——但随后他们开启了一段在NBA季后赛历史上几乎无与伦比的狂飙。他们接连赢下了接下来的13场比赛，在季后赛连胜纪录中仅次于2017年勇士队的15连胜，并且在此期间净胜对手273分，创造了NBA历史纪录。
正是在输给老鹰队的第二场比赛之后，尼克斯做出了一个关键调整：将唐斯提到进攻顶端，为布伦森创造更多无球跑动的空间，这一变阵彻底点燃了球队。在对阵老鹰队的第六场比赛中，尼克斯在半场结束时领先47分，创造了NBA季后赛历史上半场最大领先分差纪录，此后他们便一往无前。在13连胜期间，他们的11场胜利都是以两位数的分差取得的。
“作为一名教练，我的工作是让攻防两端的战术体系契合我们所有的球员。如果你是一名伟大的球员，我就必须做出更多的调整，或者比你付出更多，”布朗说。“我们最终达到了一个让他感到舒服、我也感到舒服的平衡点。……常规赛就是寻找方向的过程，这样你才能为一年中的这个时候做好准备，期间肯定会有很多起起落落。”
“我希望遇到逆境。我极其希望有逆境。因为我们必须看看，在常规赛期间，当涉及到团队凝聚力时，我们是否足够强大到能够挺过去。”
纽约接连横扫或大胜了老鹰、费城76人和克利夫兰骑士。在他们通往总决赛的道路上，最严峻的考验或许来自与克利夫兰的东部决赛第一场。在比赛还剩约8分钟且落后22分的情况下，尼克斯在布伦森的带领下展开了一场势不可挡、令人震惊的逆转。布伦森全场砍下38分，其中15分来自第四节，包括将比赛拖入加时赛的绝平进球。尼克斯在加时赛中势如破竹，并最终以4-0轻松横扫骑士。
尼克斯在上赛季也打进了NBA四强，但在东部决赛中以2-4不敌印第安纳步行者队。前超级经纪人里昂·罗斯 (Leon Rose)自2020年起主管尼克斯篮球事务，他与多兰一起解雇了主教练汤姆·锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau)，并用布朗取而代之。布朗在接受纽约这份工作之前，曾作为助理教练赢得过四次总冠军，并经历过四次担任主教练的酸甜苦辣。
布朗成为了联盟历史上第15位在执教球队的首个赛季就夺冠的主教练。他接手了一支围绕布伦森构建的球队。布伦森于2022年夏天与尼克斯签约，而在此之前不久，他的父亲里克·布伦森 (Rick Brunson) 加入了锡伯杜的教练组（并在布朗接手后继续留任）。尼克斯与布伦森家族之间的纽带有多深？罗斯其实是杰伦的教父兼前经纪人；当罗斯接手尼克斯的工作时，他的儿子萨姆·罗斯 (Sam Rose) 接替成为了杰伦的经纪人。
阿奴诺比是在2023年除夕前夕通过与多伦多的一笔重磅交易加盟的，而哈特则是在2023年交易截止日通过与波特兰的交易来到尼克斯的。在2024年夏天，尼克斯通过交易同时得到了布里奇斯（即与布鲁克林那笔“送出所有选票”的交易，尼克斯向同城死敌送出了五个首轮选秀权）和唐斯（通过将朱利叶斯·兰德尔等人送至明尼苏达交易得来）。
布伦森、哈特和布里奇斯都曾在维拉诺瓦大学并肩作战，他们在2016年一起赢得了总冠军，而布伦森和布里奇斯在2018年也再次夺冠。如今，“维拉诺瓦帮”尼克斯再次携手夺冠。
“显然，上赛季结束的方式让我们觉得我们是有机会的，”布伦森说。“我认为最重要的是，每一年都是一段新的旅程，每一年都是一个新的赛季，一个作为团队成长的新方式。我认为我们每天学习和成长的方式，将我们带到了这一刻。”
与此同时，另一支拥有五座总冠军奖杯（最近一次是在2014年）的骄傲球队马刺，在此之前已经连续六年未能打进季后赛。马刺王朝的功勋教练格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 上赛季因中风几乎缺席了所有比赛，并在去年夏天正式卸任主教练一职，由米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 接任，后者曾在2024-25赛季担任临时主教练。
圣安东尼奥选中了新秀迪伦·哈珀和卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant)，从波士顿凯尔特人队签下了自由球员卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet)，并在2025年交易截止日交易来达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 后，与其签下了一份四年2.29亿美元的续约合同。2025年的年度最佳新秀卡斯尔在各项主要数据上都有所提升，以更全面的姿态回归。作为马刺队中效力时间最长的球员，在2019年首轮末被选中的凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 本赛季转型为替补，并荣膺NBA年度最佳第六人。
但这支球队能走多远，始终取决于文班亚马能带他们走多远。在文班的三个赛季中，他首次健康地打完了常规赛。他总共只出场了64场比赛，距离获得季后赛奖项评选资格还差一场，但由于他参加了不计入常规赛战绩的NBA季中锦标赛（NBA Cup）决赛，因此获得了特例豁免。
文班亚马以绝对优势荣膺NBA年度最佳防守球员，并以场均3.1次盖帽连续第三年领跑联盟。他创下了职业生涯新高的场均得分（25.0分）、篮板（11.5个）和投篮命中率（51.2%），并在联盟MVP评选中位列第三。
马刺在12月首次引起了全联盟的注意，他们在拉斯维加斯举行的NBA季中锦标赛半决赛中击败了2025年的冠军雷霆队。随后的一周里，他们又连续两次击败俄克拉荷马城，其中包括一场圣诞大战，这预示着未来的走势。圣安东尼奥在2月找到了节奏，并一路高歌猛进杀入总决赛。从2月1日到常规赛结束，马刺以30胜4负的战绩成为NBA表现最好的球队，并以+13的净效率领跑全联盟——这意味着他们每100回合平均净胜对手13分。在此期间，只有骑士队的进攻比圣安东尼奥更出色，但由文班镇守的复杂且极具身体对抗的防守体系，带领马刺夺得了西部第二种子，仅落后雷霆2.0个胜场。
文班职业生涯的首场季后赛以对阵波特兰砍下35分告终。在第二轮击败明尼苏达的比赛中，他砍下39分、15个篮板和5次盖帽；而在与雷霆的西部决赛第一场中，他的表现让全联盟为之窒息：在双加时中砍下了张伯伦式的41分和24个篮板。
马刺在西部决赛中曾以2-3落后，但他们连扳两场淘汰了卫冕冠军，确保了联盟将迎来连续第八个不同的总冠军。在那场系列赛的第七场之后，文班亚马流下了喜悦的泪水。他正前往总决赛，而他的球队拥有主场优势。
“就我个人而言，我认为在从西部决赛的兴奋中恢复过来这方面，我本可以做得更好，”文班亚马在总决赛期间说道。当时他的球队在主场输掉了前两场比赛，并且再也没能完全恢复过来。
在不做出任何阵容调整的情况下，马刺和雷霆仍将是下赛季从西部突围的热门球队。在22岁如此年轻的年纪与冠军失之交臂后，文班亚马应该会更有动力。连续两届MVP得主谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 和雷霆队则希望下赛季能比本赛季任何时候都更加健康。
在东部，尼克斯可能会面临更加拥挤的竞争格局。在拥有完全健康的杰森·塔图姆 (Jayson Tatum) 后，凯尔特人应该会更强大。作为东部第一的底特律活塞队将寻求围绕凯德·康宁汉姆 (Cade Cunningham) 进行提升。印第安纳步行者在拥有健康的泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿 (Tyrese Haliburton) 后应该会卷土重来。骑士队也不容小觑。他们会拥有扬尼斯·阿德托昆博 (Giannis Antetokounmpo) 吗？还是勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James)？或者两者兼得？又或者，他们会选择尼克斯的道路：保持阵容稳定，并在下赛季迈出纽约在本赛季迈出的那一步？
这些都是留给未来的好问题。现在轮到尼克斯去尝试打破NBA连续八年产生不同冠军的奇特纪录了，这是联盟历史上最长的无卫冕冠军期。自2017年和2018年的勇士队以来，还没有同一支球队能连续两个赛季捧起奥布莱恩杯。
想要寻找任何历史迹象来证明尼克斯有机会成为下一支做到这一点的球队吗？别忘了，勇士队当年的两年两冠之旅，正是始于那段漫长的季后赛连胜。
尼克斯已经达成了这一前提。
“我谈到了‘希望’这个词。希望已经回到了这座城市，”唐斯说。“我们赋予了这个词新的生命。但‘成功’这个词已经很久没有在这座城市出现了。所以我们必须继续战斗，让这个词重新变为现实。”
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
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Knicks win first NBA championship since 1973, topping Spurs in Game 5
SAN ANTONIO — As if a 53-year wait wasn’t long enough, the New York Knicks needed to be the conqueror of comebacks before they could again be kings of the NBA.
Mission accomplished.
The Knickerbockers, residents of the world’s most famous arena, an original NBA franchise founded in 1946, named for the city’s Dutch settlers, are champions for the first time since 1973 and for just the third time in team history. They stunned the San Antonio Spurs, again, with another come-from-behind win in Game 5 of the 2026 finals, 94-90.
Jalen Brunson, the finals MVP and heart and soul of this team, carried an otherwise struggling Knicks offense in the clincher with 45 points. He scored 15 in the Knicks’ last, furious fourth-quarter comeback and averaged 32.6 points in the series.
New York took down the Spurs, 4-1, winning all three games in San Antonio and setting an NBA Finals record by coming from 29 points down in the second half to win Game 4 with the OG Anunoby tip heard ’round the world. The Knicks’ only loss in the series was also historic, coming on a night when a sitting U.S. president, Donald J. Trump of New York, attended a finals game.
The Knicks mounted yet another comeback in Game 5. This one was smaller (16 points), but they nevertheless won a series in which they trailed by at least 10 points in the first quarter of every game. New York trailed by seven when the fourth quarter began and was down 10 before mounting one more rally for the ages.
The final four minutes were tense, with teams trading buckets and leads. Brunson’s 12-footer with 1:05 left gave the Knicks a 90-88 lead. Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, their best player on Saturday night with 25 points, missed a 3, and Josh Hart sank a foul shot with 26.1 seconds remaining. He missed the second, but Mitchell Robinson, on the court because Knicks star center Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out, saved the possession with a rebound. Anunoby, New York’s Game 4 hero, made one of two free throws also to put the Knicks up four.
Stephon Castle, suffering through his worst game of the finals, made his first field goal of the game on a put-back dunk off a Victor Wembanyama missed 3 with 16.3 seconds left. The Knicks won the ensuing free-throw contest, finished by Anunoby’s make with 7.7 seconds to go.
Wembanyama, the 22-year-old French sensation who is angling to be the next standard bearer for the sport, has to wait on that. He finished with 19 points and 14 boards. When his final 3-point try missed near the buzzer, the thousands of New York fans in the upper deck erupted in thunderous applause.
During the trophy ceremony on the Spurs’ Frost Bank Center court, with most locals likely already home nursing their collective wounds, the arena’s upper deck belonged to Knicks fans. Thousands more moved their way into the first row of seats, in a breathtaking visual of a fan base that would not be denied a chance to witness history after five decades of frustration.
Fifty-three years is a long time for the Larry O’Brien trophy to travel the few blocks from NBA offices on Fifth Avenue back to the Garden on Eighth Avenue. Five-plus decades ago, a haze of smoke floated above the fans at the Garden. Willis Reed limped onto the floor for the 1970 title. Walter “Clyde” Frazier dominated. Red Holzman worked the sideline.
And then, more than five decades of waiting, was it nothing? There were the near-misses in 1994 and 1999. Names that will be a part of Knicks lore forever. Bernard King and Patrick Ewing and John Starks. Charles Oakley and Allan Houston and Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony.
New York’s last appearance in a finals before this came in June 1999. James Dolan took over the Knicks that October when he was appointed chairman of Madison Square Garden. For more than 26 years, he fought with the NBA, with famous Knicks alumni and with fans who booed him. Even toward the end of this magical championship run, he clashed with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a blame fest over outdoor watch-party cancellations.
But Dolan’s reign will forever be viewed differently than it otherwise would have, because of the 2026 championship.
It’s a new dawn, a new day and New Yorkers are feeling good.
From journeyman coach Mike Brown to the Nova Knicks. From an alumnus of the franchise’s last finals team, who happened to take a job as an assistant coach one month before his budding superstar son signed as a free agent, to trades for a stray KAT and the newest of the city’s Bridges, the Knicks are again kings of the biggest city on basketball’s biggest stage.
The Big Apple is no stranger to major sports titles, of course. The Yankees have won seven World Series since 1973; the Giants won four Super Bowls and the Islanders captured four Stanley Cups; the Mets, Rangers, and Liberty each have a championship since then.
But the Knicks? This one hits differently in a place known as the mecca of basketball. The wait had stretched more than a half-century.
“We want to say ‘salute the wives of Knicks fans’ because they went through a lot their whole life,” said Joseph Cartagena, a South Bronx native better known as hip-hop star “Fat Joe.” Cartagena, who was born a few months after the Knicks’ first championship in 1970, is one of the many dedicated Knick fans who populate Celebrity Row at the Garden.
“I’ve seen Hasidic Jews breakdancing with Black kids outside the stadium,” Cartagena added. “This is the greatest unification you’ve ever seen of New York City in your life since 9/11. If you want to know what we felt like in 9/11 after the tragedy.
“It’s what you’re seeing around New York City, it’s everybody together. This is insane.”
New York finished the regular season in third place in the Eastern Conference, at 53-29, becoming the lowest seed since the 2022 Golden State Warriors to win the finals.
There was no singular turning point for the Knicks during the regular season, who won the NBA Cup in December (over the Spurs, no less) but shortly thereafter endured a losing stretch of nine defeats in 11 games through mid-January. An eight-game winning streak followed, and they were 23-11 from Feb. 1 through the end of the regular season.
Brunson led the Knicks in scoring for the second consecutive year at exactly 26.0 points per game. He didn’t get a single MVP vote but was an All-NBA Second Team selection. Towns, the Knicks’ other All-Star, saw dips in his points and rebounds year over year, to 20.1 points and 11.9 boards, as he and coach Mike Brown worked throughout the year to find common ground for Towns’ places on both offense and defense.
The playoffs got off to a bad start — falling behind the No. 6 Atlanta Hawks, 2-1 — before going on a run nearly unrivaled in NBA playoff history. They won the next 13 games, second behind only the 2017 Warriors with 15 consecutive playoff wins, and outscored opponents by 273 points during that span, an NBA record.
It was after the Knicks’ second loss to the Hawks when the Knicks’ singular adjustment of moving Towns to the top of the offense, giving Brunson more room to work off the ball, ignited them. The Knicks entered halftime of Game 6 against the Hawks with a 47-point lead, setting the all-time NBA record for the largest halftime lead in postseason history, and basically didn’t look back. Eleven of their 13 wins during the streak came by double-digits.
“It’s my job as a coach to fit whatever scheme we have on both sides of the floor to all of our players, and if you’re a great player, I’ve got to make a little bit more adjustments or I’ve got to give a little bit more than you do,” Brown said. “And we finally got to a point where he was comfortable, I was comfortable. … The regular season is about finding your way so you can prepare for this time of the year, and there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs.
“And I hope there’s adversity. I hope like hell there’s adversity. Because we have to see if we’re strong enough when it comes to being connected to see if we can get through it during the regular season.”
New York destroyed the Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers, in succession, with perhaps the sternest test on their way to the finals coming in Game 1 of the conference finals against Cleveland. Trailing by 22 with about eight minutes left, the Knicks went on a torrid, stunning comeback, led by Brunson, who scored 15 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter, including the tying basket that forced overtime. The Knicks cruised in the extra session and easily dumped the Cavs in four.
The Knicks also reached the NBA’s final four last season, but lost in six games to the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals. Former superagent Leon Rose, who has overseen basketball operations for the Knicks since 2020, and Dolan swapped out coach Tom Thibodeau and replaced him with Brown, who had won four titles as an assistant and endured the trials and tribulations of being a head coach four different times before taking the job in New York.
Brown became the 15th coach in league history to win a championship in his first season coaching the team. He inherited a team built around Brunson, who signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2022, just after his dad Rick joined Thibodeau’s staff (and remained when Brown took over). How strong are the ties between the Knicks and the Brunsons? Rose is Jalen’s actual godfather and former agent; Rose’s son Sam took over as Jalen’s agent when Leon took the job with the Knicks.
Anunoby was added via a blockbuster trade with Toronto just before New Year’s Eve in 2023, and Hart came to the Knicks in a trade with Portland at the 2023 trade deadline. In the summer of 2024, the Knicks traded for both Bridges (the “all those picks” trade with Brooklyn in which the Knicks sent their crosstown rivals five first-round picks) and Towns (for Julius Randle, among others, sent to Minnesota).
Brunson, Hart and Bridges all played together at Villanova, where they won championships together in 2016 and in Brunson and Bridges’ cases — 2018 as well. The Nova Knicks are champions together, again.
“Obviously the way last year ended, we thought we had an opportunity,” Brunson said. “I think what’s most important is that every year is a new journey, every year is a new season, a new way to grow as a team. I think the way we learn, the way we grow as a team every single day brought us to this moment.”
The Spurs, meanwhile, another proud franchise with five titles, the last coming in 2014, hadn’t reached the playoffs in six years before this one. The coach for San Antonio’s dynasty, Gregg Popovich, missed almost all of last season because of a stroke, and formally stepped aside as a coach last summer for Mitch Johnson, who was his interim replacement in 2024-25.
San Antonio drafted rookies Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant, signed Luke Kornet as a free agent from the Boston Celtics, and signed De’Aaron Fox to a four-year, $229 million extension after trading for him at the 2025 deadline. Castle, the Rookie of the Year in 2025, returned as a better player across the board with improvements in most major statistical categories. Keldon Johnson, the longest-tenured Spur who was drafted late in the first round in 2019, transitioned to the bench this season and became the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.
But this team was always going to go as far as Wembanyama could take it. For the first time in his three seasons, Wemby finished the regular season healthy. He appeared in just 64 total games, one shy of being eligible for postseason awards, but was granted an exception in part because he also competed in the NBA Cup Finals — the only game on the schedule that doesn’t count.
Wembanyama was the runaway winner for NBA Defensive Player of the Year, leading the league in blocks for the third consecutive year at 3.1 per game. He posted career highs in points (25.0), rebounds (11.5) and field-goal percentage (.512), and finished third in the league’s MVP race.
The Spurs first put the league on notice in December, beating the 2025 champion Thunder in the semifinals of the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. They beat Oklahoma City twice more the following week, in consecutive games, including one on Christmas, a harbinger of things to come. San Antonio found its stride in February and didn’t slow down until the finals. From Feb. 1 through the end of the regular season, the Spurs were the NBA’s best team at 30-4 and led the league with a plus-13 net rating — which means they were outscoring opponents by an average of 13 points per 100 possessions. Only the Cavs had a better offense than San Antonio during that stretch, but a complex, physical defense anchored by Wemby carried the Spurs to the No. 2 seed, just 2.0 games behind the Thunder.
Wemby’s first-ever playoff game ended with him scoring 35 points against Portland. He posted 39 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks in a second-round win over Minnesota, and Game 1 of the conference finals against the Thunder took the league’s collective breath away: a Wilt-like 41 points and 24 boards in double overtime.
The Spurs fell behind, 3-2, in the conference finals, but rallied to take the final two games and unseat the champs, guaranteeing that there would be an eighth different champion in as many years. Wembanyama wept tears of joy after Game 7 of that series. He was headed to the finals, where his team held home court.
“Personally, I think I could have been better in recovering from the high of the conference finals,” Wembanyama said during the finals, as his team dropped the first two games at home and never fully recovered.
The Spurs and the Thunder, without making a single change to either of their rosters, will be favorites to emerge from the West next season. Wembanyama should only be more motivated after his near-miss at such a young age (22). Two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Thunder hope to be healthier than they were at any point this season.
In the East, the Knicks could face a much more crowded picture. The Celtics should be stronger with a fully healthy Jayson Tatum. The Detroit Pistons, the No. 1 team in the East, will look to improve around Cade Cunningham. Indiana should be back with a healthy Tyrese Haliburton. The Cavs shouldn’t be discounted. Will they have Giannis Antetokounmpo? Or LeBron James? Or both? Or, will they choose the path of the Knicks: keep the roster together and take the step next season that New York took in this one?
All fair questions for another day. It is now the Knicks’ turn to try to break the NBA’s curious streak of eight different champions, the longest drought for back-to-back winners in league history. Not since the Warriors of 2017 and 2018 has the same organization lifted the O’Brien trophy in consecutive seasons.
Looking for any historical markers to think the Knicks have a chance to be the next team to do it? Well, the Warriors’ two-year jaunt began, after all, with that long playoff winning streak.
The Knicks already checked that box.
“I talked about the word ‘hope.’ Hope has been brought back to the city,” Towns said. “We’ve revitalized that word. But the word ‘success’ hasn’t been seen in this city for a long time. So we have to continue to fight to bring that word back to fruition.”
By Joe Vardon, via The Athletic