2026 NBA Finals: New York Knicks vs San Antonio Spurs

Knicks-Spurs kick it off tonight in the 2025-2026 NBA Finals.  It's hard not to be as excited as everyone else about San Antonio and Wemby but the Knicks are good.  Really good.  Led by Jalen Brunson, they are a deep team with multiple players who can shoot and score.  This includes one of the best shooting big men ever, if not the best, in Karl-Anthony Towns.  His play around the 3-point line could make for an interesting matchup for Wemby who likes to sag a lot and can do so against traditional bigs.  But Wemby and the Spurs seem to have an energy right now that might be hard to stop.  And New York doesn't have the defense OKC did. San Antonio needs the ball in De'Aaron Fox' hand to keep down turnovers and to be that calming presence.  Wemby will be flying everywhere on defense which makes it tough for shooters and anyone close to the lane alike.  I like San Antonio in this series.  The Spurs can be streaky though and the Knicks have plenty of scorers so I think it will be close and I expect 6 games.

I did enjoy looking back on the 1999 NBA Finals where Tim Duncan and David Robinson led the Spurs over the New York team with Latrell Sprewell, Allan Houston, Marcus Camby and Larry Johnson in 5 games.  While we knew that Spurs team was good and that Duncan was special, did we really know it would lead to 5 San Antonio Spurs Championships?  I've always been a closet Spurs fan dating back to George Gervin, Artis Gilmore, and Johnny Moore in the early 80s, so I definitely have a rooting interest in this series.
 

Knicks Trade Kristaps Porzingis To Mavericks

The New York Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis, Courtney Lee, Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Dallas Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and two first-round picks. More details are here at hoopsrumors.com.  I really like this trade.  After determining Porzingis did not want to stay in New York the Knicks traded him to the Mavs and it could really be a win-win for both teams.  For the Knicks they did three things with this trade - cleared cap space with the acquisitions of Jordan and Matthews who are on expiring deals, received a good young talent in point guard Dennis Smith Jr., and also receive two first round picks allowing them to pick up more young talent moving forward.  What else could they ask for?  The list of free agents this upcoming offseason is sooooo deep.  They should be able to use all that cap space they'll have to grab some quality players.  This team didn't have a clear plan for getting better before this trade.  That changes if they can get a couple of those top 10 players from that list.  That is a big if and if anyone can screw it up the Knicks can...but I'm saying there is a chance...

The Mavericks on the other hand take on all the risk.  Still this could end up going very well.  Porzingis is coming off a torn ACL so there is no guarantee he'll be back to all-star form.  He was such a good player you have to like the idea of pairing him with probable rookie of the year Luka Doncic.  The players they took back will give them some firepower to help out Doncic this year while Porzingis heals.  Porzingis is a restricted free agent next year.  Dallas will look to sign him long term I'm sure.  Porzingis will have to weigh accepting the Mav's qualifying offer and being an unrestricted free agent in 2020 or taking a long term deal.  Does he play one year, waiting on unrestricted free agency and risk getting hurt again or not looking good in 2019-2020?  Dallas also gave up two first round picks.  That seemed excessive to me but we'll have to see where those land and what players New York is able to draft.  

I'd say New York walks away the winner here.  Free cap space and the extra draft picks seem to put them in position to turn it around quickly - if all goes well.  Dallas now has a great talent in Porzingis but he is injured and they have to hope he gets back to his 2017-2018 levels for this to be a win for them and they also need to sign him to a long term deal.  Many "what ifs" on both sides but still it is a fun trade and it is great seeing one of this magnitude before the trade deadline.  Now we wait and see if Anthony Davis is moved next week at the deadline.    

Linsanity Moves to Houston

When the New York Knicks decided not to match the three year 25 million dollar contract offer by the Houston Rockets the Jeremy Lin show hit the road.  I must say this is a story that I tired on very quickly this past season.  Don't get me wrong.  I think it is interesting but I swear some folks thought the second coming of Jerry West had appeared in New York. 

Lin did put up some good numbers but also turned the ball over at a rate of 3.6 a game.  Some of the game's great point guards have led the league in turnovers so this alone isn't enough to condemn him - NBA Turnover Leaders by Year .  His 14 points, 6 assists, and 44% shooting percentage should give any team hope that he might be a nice point guard.  But I'm not convinced.  He started only 25 games and when Carmelo Anthony returned from the disabled list the offense didn't click as well.  While many want to put the blame on Anthony I would have thought adding a good point guard with Anthony and Amare Stoudemire would have taken that team to the next level.  I'm not saying it was his fault.  Much of that blame should be leveled at the coach but why couldn't it work?  I hope he does do well but I'm always skeptical about a player who is the second coming after such a short period of excellent play.  I'd think he will make a good backup someday but I can't see him being much more than that. 

Hopefully for Houston he'll be much better.  The money they are giving him and everything they are saying says they expect a starter and nothing less.  They of course are also buying "Linsanity" which will help bring press to the team.  An added bonus but only if he plays well.  Again I hope this works well for everyone.  Houston needs something as they rebuild for the future and continue their pursuit of Dwight Howard.  New York now moves forward with Raymond Felton at the point who should be solid but won't come with the hype which may be a plus in the long run.  No matter what happens I know I'll be stuck hearing about Jeremy Lin on the radio each morning for some time to come.