The “David and Goliath” metaphor gets thrown around quite a handful in the realm of sports, but no situation better encapsulates it than this year’s Finals matchup. On the black-and-white corner, we have an up-and-coming unit led by the 7-foot-4 behemoth, Victor Wembanyama. Challenging Goliath on the blue and orange corner is a flock of hard-nosed Davids, who harmoniously combine hot shooting and stifling defense to knock out opponents early into games. It’s the San Antonio Spurs against the New York Knicks, a rematch of the 1999 Finals, and arguably the most highly anticipated Finals in recent memory.
Starting Five
Starting with the Spurs, every basketball fan is already familiar with Wembanyama, who can simply do it all. Their backcourt of Stephon Castle, whose defensive prowess has earned him the nickname of “Castle Wall,” and De’Aaron Fox, who lives up to his namesake with his immense quickness and consequent flashy drives to the rim. Completing the unit are Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie — both 3-and-D wings who can competently guard multiple positions.
The Knicks are known for their Villanova Big 3 — with superstar scorer Jalen Brunson and two-way wings in Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges. They will be joined by former No.1 pick Karl-Anthony Towns, arguably the best three-point shooting big man in the league, and forward OG Anunoby, a 3-and-D wing who can also create his own shot.
Both units, taken as a whole, are balanced and versatile. Both can defend at a high level, score at a high pace, and convert from deep. The obvious outlier, however, is that the Spurs have Wemby, and the Knicks do not. This will be more than enough to widen the gap between both units.
EDGE: Spurs
Bench
The Spurs can dial their bench up to five players deep. The clear standout would be Fil-Am rookie Dylan Harper, who could very well see starter minutes over Fox given his three-level scoring prowess and developing defensive IQ. Standing just three inches short of Wemby is 2024 champion Luke Kornet, who famously pulled off a game-changing chase-down block against OKC’s Isaiah Hartenstein in Game 7 a few days ago. Completing the unit are athletic wing Carter Bryant, classic power forward prototype Keldon Johnson, and 2015 champion Harrison Barnes.
The Knicks use their bench more generously, with six players tallying more than eight minutes a game in the playoffs. Their de facto sixth man is Miles “Deuce” McBride, who promptly takes the scoring load off Brunson, while also giving the team defensive contributions that the latter may lack. They also have an old-school prototype big man in Mitchell Robinson, who would be an instrumental piece in their quest to defend Wemby. They hope, however, that he will be serviceable given his recent pinky surgery. Joining them are veteran guard Landry Shamet, defensive big man Ariel Hukporti, Jose “Grand Theft” Alvarado, who is known for his treacherous steals, and beloved Fil-Am and Gilas Pilipinas star Jordan Clarkson.
EDGE: Knicks
Coaching
The Spurs are led by young coach Mitch Johnson, who has smoothly filled in the massive void left by the legendary Gregg Popovich. The Knicks are led by veteran coach Mike Brown, who has been around the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry, and has led the famous 2023 Sacramento Kings, who broke a historic drought of 17 years without a playoff berth. Johnson deserves credit for propelling a young squad with minimal experience all the way to the Finals, but the advantage goes to Brown who is battle-tested given his vast experience.
EDGE: Knicks
2025-26 Head-to-Head
Both teams have exchanged wins in the regular season. The Spurs started off 2026 with a thrilling New Year’s Day victory in San Antonio, while the Knicks won in a blowout in MSG on March 1st. It is noteworthy to point out that both teams also faced off in the 2025 NBA Cup Final, which saw the Knicks take home the championship in a comeback victory.
X-Factors
San Antonio: Dylan Harper
While Harper is still a rookie, his success or struggle will dictate the energy that the Spurs will bring throughout the series. His offensive game already seems as polished as one could wish from a rookie, and his defensive IQ has steadily been building up. His scoring output has increased from 11.8 PPG in the regular season to 13.1 PPG in the playoffs, and the team is 8-4 when he scores in double figures. If he continues his upward trend in the Finals, then he can take considerable pressure off of Wemby and Fox offensively, while aiding in shutting down Brunson defensively.
New York: Karl-Anthony Towns
Towns will most definitely be the swing player for the Knicks. This season, Coach Brown has brilliantly modified his role from merely a half-shooter, half-post-up player to now a Jokić-esque one — causing his passing to vastly improve.
How will the Knicks guard Wemby?
Wemby is one of the few players in the league who cannot be stopped outright, and merely limiting his production would already amount to progress. I would submit that the best approach to at least limiting him would be to guard him as a team and force him out onto the perimeter. This implies that they should not be shy to send other defenders outside of their centers to take turns guarding him. Since the Knicks are a hard-nosed defensive team, and the Spurs would very likely hunt for mismatches, they should be willing to send the likes of Hart, Anunoby, and Bridges to use their physicality and wrestle him out of the paint. KAT and Robinson cannot consistently guard him themselves. Hence, the Knicks would have to make a complete team effort to give him as little touches in the low post as possible. They could very well live with forcing him to be a shooter, rather than seeing him bulldoze time and again whoever contests him at the rim.
Final Prediction
The Spurs have the more talented team, but the Knicks have a deeper rotation at-large. This fact alone should allow the latter to push the series to at least six games. However, the Wemby leverage will be too heavy for them to overcome, as his mere presence on both the offensive and defensive ends has forced teams to change their game plans. Case in point was a crucial Game 7 fastbreak where Wemby’s presence alone in the paint was enough to force OKC to retreat and reset their attack. The viable approach for the Knicks to win the series is to limit him to 20 PPG or lower while still playing honest defense on Fox and Harper, and then forcing other Spurs secondaries to beat them instead.
The opener may very well go to the Spurs, as they are a statistically great Game 1 team. After that, I see both teams exchanging wins in the next five games regardless of home court — and I will not be surprised to see two of those games end on a game-winning shot from each team. Ultimately, the proverbial Goliath will wind up winning. The Spurs will eventually prevail at home in a close but fairly comfortable Game 7, as they solidify their modern dominance with yet another NBA championship.
Prediction: Spurs in 7
Finals MVP: Victor Wembanyama (28.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 4.0 BPG)
