LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 16: Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks drives to the basket while against Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs in the second quarter of the championship game of the Emirates NBA Cup at T-Mobile Arena on December 16, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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In a few years, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Western Conference Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs may just be a footnote to the team’s larger dynasty build.
“That time they lost to Wemby” could be the exception, not the rule. The Thunder could (and should) be right back in contention next year, and win more titles.
Yet, it’s hard to avoid the obvious doubts after the Spurs beat OKC over the final two games of that series.
With Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both absent for the Thunder, Victor Wembanyama & Co. limited Chet Holmgren to just four points and four rebounds in 33 minutes. He attempted just two field goals, and effectively disappeared for a team that desperately needed him, in its biggest game of the season.
Holmgren, still just 24 years old, has room to improve. As do the rest of Oklahoma City’s relatively young players. But the counterargument to that is that San Antonio is even younger and less experienced. And that team already got past them to play in the NBA Finals this June.
Wembanyama is essential to the Spurs’ rapid rise, as the 7-foot-4 center would be for any team he played on. What should be (and is) alarming for the rest of the NBA, though, is how fully weaponized he already appears as the new face of the NBA.
Even if the New York Knicks are able to keep Wemby somewhat in check, and/or beat the Spurs in the Finals, it doesn’t change the fact that these Finals are a snapshot of the league’s future. Much like the 2007 Finals between the Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers were a preview of what would be a decade of LeBron James-led teams competing for titles, this one is just as much about what’s happening in the moment, as it is what it’s teasing out next.
That also doesn’t stop at Wembanyama.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 19: Mikal Bridges #25 and Og Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks celebrate during overtime against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game One of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden on May 19, 2026 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
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Wemby’s presence in the league has been the exclamation point on a league-wide shift toward greater size and defense in recent years; that itself a right-sizing after three-point shooting and small-ball took over the NBA.
With limited exceptions, both the Knicks and Spurs employ lineups of long players that can play effective defense all over the floor.
The teams have been No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, by defensive rating in this year’s playoffs. During the regular season, both were among the top seven NBA teams by defensive rating, and the Knicks particularly improved by that defensive aptitude as the season went on.
Unlike the league’s best defensive groups of the past, however (think the 2000 Pistons or 1990s Knicks), these teams are using defensive aptitude to spark offensive prowess, too. Both were top-five squads by offensive rating during the regular season, and two of the top three in the playoffs.
The timing of a matchup like this – brutally efficient play on both ends – is exactly what the NBA wants and needs at the end of year one of its new TV deals. Instead of a conversation on fouls and play stoppage, fans will see youth, ascendant stars and teams, and basketball that’s inherently entertaining to watch.
If there’s more riches to mine for the league and its partners coming out of its strong viewership performance during the regular season, this was the matchup to deliver all of it.
The Wembanyama hype (both present and future) will grab many of the headlines leading into the Finals.
His size and sheer physical presence is a novelty for casual and hardcore basketball fans alike. And the “early arrival” narrative is a compelling one to push because it’s unexpected.
For as much as that’s all true, though, the story around the Spurs’ opponent – the Knicks – is potentially much larger, and more important for the NBA in the short-term.
New York’s dominance in these playoffs (+271 point differential) has been record-breaking. And all the more surprising given that the Knicks were not the prohibitive East favorite going into the postseason, and were even down 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks after the first three games of their first round series.
Beyond that, this is one of the NBA’s most popular teams, sitting in the league’s biggest market, trying to break a 53-year championship drought. Even with the United States being one of the co-hosts of the FIFA World Cup, the Knicks actually winning the Finals would be among the year’s biggest sports stories.
A Knicks championship would change the conversation about the franchise, further elevate the NBA, and also fuel the wider superstardom of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of the roster.
If audiences thought they were seeing a lot of Brunson and Towns before, in AT&T commercials, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. A Knicks title would make Brunson, in particular, one of the most beloved New York athletes ever and solidify him as one of the NBA’s biggest draws for the next decade.
No matter what happens, the NBA has officially been pushed into its future.
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