In this episode of “Chasing History,
The stage is set.
The Larry O’Brien is painted on the court.
The Frost Bank Center is ready to rock.
Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals is one sleep away (Wednesday: 8:30 ET, ABC).
Today? Finals Media Day, with live coverage of the Spurs & Knicks beginning at 1 ET (NBA TV, NBA App).
5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀
Two Journeys, One Dream: Brunson & Wemby’s unique roads to the game’s ultimate stage
Preparation Meets Opportunity: How the Knicks peaked at the perfect time
Built For Now: How the Spurs accelerated their path to the Finals
Champion Traits: Five similarities between the Knicks and past titles winners
Forever Finals: The Finals moments you remember. The stories you haven’t heard
BUT FIRST … ⏰
Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off Wednesday (8:30 ET, ABC) as the Spurs host the Knicks at the roaring Frost Bank Center, marking the building’s first Finals game in 12 years.
Media Day Coverage: Tune in to NBA TV, NBA.com or the NBA App at 1 ET for “The Association: NBA Finals Media Day” with a 2.5-hour show hosted by Lauren Rosen and Quentin Richardson.
NBA on ESPN tips off its wall-to-wall, multi-platform coverage of the 2026 Finals beginning tomorrow for Game 1, including the legendary “Inside the NBA” team serving as the official pregame, halftime and postgame shows on ABC.
NBA Finals Podcast Row brings podcasts and digital shows on-site for the Finals following today’s Media Day, with top basketball podcasts previewing the series and featuring appearances from NBA legends, league executives and special guests.
1. BRUNSON & WEMBY’S SUPERSTAR PATHS TO THE ULTIMATE STAGE
Few NBA Finals have featured two superstars more different than Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama.
One is a 6-foot-2 guard. A craftsman. A master of angles, precision and tough shot-making.
The other is a 7-foot-4 anomaly. A physical specimen who moves like a guard, shoots like a wing and stands above everyone.
Yet the contrast between Brunson and Wembanyama extends beyond height and playing style. Their journeys to the game’s ultimate stage have been just as different.
Wemby’s World: Wembanyama entered the NBA at 19 as a global sensation, carrying expectations few players have ever faced. Three seasons later, he’s done more than meet them – overcoming rare obstacles along the way.
- Alien Arrival: The No. 1 overall pick in 2023, Wemby delivered immediately, winning unanimous Kia ROY honors, while leading all rookies in points, rebounds and blocks
- Sophomore Surge: In Year 2, he leveled up again, averaging career highs in points, rebounds and blocks to earn his first All-Star nod
- Then, A Scare: Deep vein thrombosis, a potentially career- and life-threatening condition, ended his sophomore season in February
No Slowing Down: Rather than let the diagnosis derail his ascent, Wemby embraced the offseason with a newfound urgency – from training with monks at China’s Shaolin Temple to learning from Hall of Fame big men Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett.
- “I needed time to find myself again and then to get better,” Wemby told ESPN in December of his summer training. “Life is short. [Your] career is short. It can end just like this. So there’s no time to waste.”
That urgency fueled another leap forward. Wemby followed his recovery with a Kia DPOY and MVP-Finalist campaign, propelling the Spurs to 62 wins and their first Finals berth since 2014.
At 22, he’s the youngest player since LeBron James in 2007 to lead a Finals team in scoring.
Brunson played his first NBA game 22 — without anywhere near the fanfare that accompanied Wemby’s rookie year. Instead of living up to lofty expectations, he spent years changing perceptions.
- The Start: After winning two national titles at Villanova, Brunson was selected by Dallas with the No. 33 pick in the 2018 Draft. He averaged 8.8 pts over his first two seasons, starting just 54 of his 130 available games
- The Jump: In Year 4 with Dallas, Brunson popped, averaging a career-high 16.3 ppg and earning a full-time starting role. That summer (2022), the Knicks signed him as a free agent, betting on him as a franchise cornerstone
- The Breakthrough: Brunson rewarded that faith immediately, leading New York to its first Playoff series victory in a decade in his first season, earning his first All-Star nod in Year 2 and finishing fifth in Kia MVP voting in Year 3
- “I’ve always been doubted,” Brunson said in NBA’s original series, “Pass the Rock,” in 2024. “I’m obviously not the fastest, the strongest, I can’t jump the highest … but I’m relentless.”
That relentlessness helped transform Brunson from a 2nd-round pick into one of the game’s biggest stars – one that shines brightest when the stakes are highest.
In the last three seasons, no player has scored more 4th-quarter Playoff points than Brunson, who has powered New York’s first Finals trip since 1999.
Shared Ambitions: While Brunson and Wemby took vastly different routes to superstardom, both started with the same dream.
Brunson grew up around the game, learning from his father, Rick – a member of that 1999 Knicks team and current New York assistant – who pushed him from an early age.
Wembanyama was a basketball prodigy in France, already dreaming of the NBA as a child – and even rocking a Spurs jersey at age 10.
- “He pushed me,” Brunson said on “Pass the Rock” about his father. “He always wanted to see how far I could take my limits … and every single day I don’t take it for granted.”
- “I’m wearing a Spurs jersey, it’s kind of a foreshadowing,” Wemby said while looking at the above photo on Draft night. “That kid was confident, and even at the time, he didn’t let people change him.”
One has spent his career living up to immense expectations. The other spent his career exceeding them.
Now, two different paths converge on basketball’s biggest stage.
- “We want to win a championship,” said Brunson at NBA All-Star. “That’s the goal.”
- “Winning the Larry O’Brien, it’s a childhood dream,” said Wemby after making the Finals. “It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
2. PREPARATION, OPPORTUNITY & THE KNICKS PEAKING AT THE PERFECT TIME
Championship runs are rarely linear.
Over an 82-game regular season and two months the Playoffs, every contender faces adversity that can derail or define a season.
For the Knicks, the road to the NBA Finals was no exception, featuring a season of highs and lows that helped power their Playoff surge, writes NBA.com’s Shaun Powell:
“This fun and fulfilling journey of the New York Knicks is the result of preparation meeting opportunity …
… The Knicks, following a brief stumble after winning the Emirates NBA Cup 2026 in December, refocused on defense and emphasized ball sharing and found their stride. They’ve won 24 of 30 games dating back to March 11.
… Back to that 124-113 Cup victory — it planted the seeds of belief that this team could follow one title with another in the same season.
And just by coincidence, the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in that game, raising the idea that they can also triumph over the Spurs in a best-of-seven if both teams advanced, and here they are.” | Read More
3. BUILT FOR NOW: HOW SAN ANTONIO ASSEMBLED A FINALS CONTENDER
In the 2025-26 NBA GM Survey, the Spurs were projected to finish 9th in the West.
Now, they’re just the third team since 1990 to have a top-3 Draft pick and make the Finals the following season.
How’d they do it? As NBA.com’s Shaun Powell explains, San Antonio’s ascent didn’t happen overnight. Instead, it took years of smart drafting, timely additions and organizational patience.
Plus, a franchise cornerstone capable of changing everything:
“The San Antonio Spurs have long been held as an example of clever construction, and this latest creation has one very big factor in common with the franchise’s five-time championship winner:
Tim Duncan (and David Robinson) then, Victor Wembanyama now.
… But the Spurs are in good hands with GM Brian Wright. He has used his Draft picks wisely, added a few pieces in free agency and trades and created a team that has legs and, of course, got lucky, as most successful GMs do from time to time.
The Spurs were once projected to contend in a few years. Well, their time is now.
Here’s how the 2026 Western Conference Champions were built.” | Read More
4. FIVE THINGS THE KNICKS SHARE WITH PAST CHAMPIONS
Every year is different. And every Finals team writes its own story.
Still, history can provide context, and as NBA.com’s Brian Martin notes, this year’s Knicks squad shares five qualities with some great teams of the past.
One of those similarities? Posting a historic point differential:
“A dominant run through a team’s own conference has often been a precursor to Finals success. The Knicks won the Eastern Conference with a +271 point differential through 14 games (+19.4 per game), which is the highest point differential for any team entering the NBA Finals.
Before the Knicks, the top five point differentials included four teams that went on to win the NBA championship: the 2017 Warriors (+196 in 12 games), the 1987 Lakers (+180 in 12 games), the ’85 Lakers (+177 in 13 games) and the ’16 Cavaliers (+177 in 14 games).
The only team in the top five that didn’t win the title, the ’17 Cavaliers (+177 in 13 games), fell to the previous record holders in the Finals.”
Read more for all five traits New York shares with past champions.
5. FOREVER FINALS: DUNCAN DELIVERS SPURS’ FIRST TITLE
Michael Jordan’s shrug. Magic Johnson’s baby hook. Ray Allen’s 3. “Blocked by James!”
Some Finals moments take you back instantly. On basketball’s biggest stage, Finals moments become everlasting – time capsules of raw emotion that stay with players and fans for a lifetime.
That’s why we’re tipping off “Forever Finals,“ a new Finals-long series revisiting iconic moments from championship history through the eyes of the people who lived them.
Our first chapter? The last time the Knicks and Spurs met on the Finals stage – and a defining night for a franchise chasing its first title.
Twenty-seven years ago – on June 25, 1999 – the Spurs captured the first NBA championship in franchise history, defeating the Knicks in five games.
At 23 years old, Tim Duncan delivered 31 points and 9 rebounds in the title-clinching Game 5 to earn Finals MVP. But in the moments after the final buzzer, his thoughts weren’t on individual accolades.
They were on the veterans who helped build the Spurs into contenders and had spent years chasing the title that had finally arrived:
“It’s going to be very hard for me to explain to you guys how great this feeling is.
“And how important it was not only to win it, but to win it for people who have worked so hard like David [Robinson], AJ [Avery Johnson] and Sean [Elliot]…
“People who have been right there. Right on the brink of winning it. And to help them get over that edge – I feel so happy for them.
“It’s an incredible feeling.”
Tomorrow, the Spurs and Knicks meet on the Finals stage once again (8:30 ET, ABC).
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