LAS VEGAS — The magic of the NBA Cup, for all the internal and external pushes to make this in-season tournament a success, lies in the significance of the insignificant.
For instance, recent history indicates there isn’t a strong correlation between a deep tournament run and playoff success. The Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, winners of the 2023 and 2024 editions of the NBA Cup, respectively, were eliminated in the first round of the postseason just five months later.
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Still, Tuesday night’s Spurs-Knicks tilt (8:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video) offers a unique blend of markets, approaches and overall organizational goals — and it should be a celebration of the diversity in teams that the league embraces.
Victor Wembanyama has returned from injury to lead the Spurs to the NBA Cup title game. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(Ethan Miller via Getty Images)
In one corner, the Knicks, in the NBA’s largest market, were assembled with aggression, precision and arrogance. New York attracts stars and is hell-bent on winning a championship sooner rather than later. It’s a city full of passionate fans desperate for something, anything they can claim as their own.
“I’ve been a Knick fan my whole life,” rapper and actor Ja Rule told Yahoo Sports. “I was born in ‘76 and they ain’t never won s***. So I’m here praying that at least we can get the in-season cup.”
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In the other corner, the Spurs, in one of the league’s smallest markets, were built on patience, timing and a bit of luck. The organization built through the draft, with the hope that the pieces in place will create a sustainable model of success for years to come. San Antonio doesn’t possess the gravitational pull that New York does, but it has Victor Wembanyama, the game’s most interesting and talented player in decades.
So while both teams will naturally want to lift the NBA Cup trophy after making it this far, even if it doesn’t count for anything in the standings, there are more important things at stake once the dust settles in Las Vegas.
“It’s not going to be a super significant step, but still a significant one,” Wembanyama said Monday. “Because it’s a high-stakes game that both teams are going to be very invested in winning. It just shows that we are preparing and we will pass the next step for more significant games in the playoffs.
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“As competitors, we want to win every game, and this one brings something new on the table, so we want to win it even more.”
[Spurs vs. Knicks: 3 big questions for the NBA Cup championship game]
What makes this matchup so intriguing, aside from the outside factors, is the stylistic clash. The Knicks are led by their 6-foot-2 point guard, Jalen Brunson. Following a brilliant 40-point performance in the semifinal win over Orlando, the star guard is averaging 34.8 points and 5.4 assists in Cup games. The bulk of San Antonio’s defensive game plan will be centered around slowing Brunson’s change-of-pace approach, a plan that likely will involve keeping Wembanyama near the rim to deter one of the NBA’s most proficient drivers. Brunson is the beginning and end of New York’s hopes, and a team that has leaned on his leadership thus far doesn’t plan on changing.
“Having a guy like Jalen as your leader,” head coach Mike Brown said, “who embraces the work, embraces the process, more importantly embraces the details of what you need to do to go out there and win; at his size and his athleticism, he doesn’t have a lot of room or a lot of margin for error, so he embraces the little things. That feeds off to everybody else.”
Jalen Brunson is averaging 34.8 points and 5.4 assists in Cup games. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS)
The Spurs, who are working Wembanyama back after missing a month with a left calf strain, must determine how to deploy their 7-4 center. The Frenchman played 22 minutes against Oklahoma City on Saturday, but the team must be intentional about his workload.
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San Antonio has proven it can win in his absence, with head coach Mitch Johnson leading the Spurs to an impressive 9-3 record during that period. But the sheer attention Wembanyama invites — with or without the ball in his hands — forces opponents to be strategic. Knicks starting center Karl-Anthony Towns received the bulk of defensive duties during their Christmas matchup last season, when Wembanyama exploded for 42 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. This time around, with a much-improved Stephon Castle and the additions of De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper, New York’s scheme should see some tweaks.
“You’re not going to be able to guard a guy like that one-on-one,” Brown said. “You try to put length, size and physicality at the point of attack when it comes to him, but it’s got to be five guys guarding the basketball at all times.
“We have some pretty good defenders with length, and hopefully they can, at the point of attack, try to make it as difficult as possible with him, knowing that they have help behind them.”
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Regardless of the result on Tuesday, both the Spurs and Knicks are trending in the right direction. They are both among the top-10 teams in net rating, according to Cleaning the Glass. Both are 18-7, contenders in their respective conferences with the majority of their rotational contributors healthy. There’s no concern these teams, having physically outmatched their opponents en route to Vegas, will depart from their trajectory once the Cup is concluded.
“You treat it like you would any other game, honestly,” Brunson said. “You’re not winning or gaining anything in your record, but you’re going out there and competing. You’re playing for more than just yourself. You’re playing for your team, your organization and your city. There’s a lot at stake besides the record. You go out there and compete no matter what.”
