NBA Announces All-Tournament Team For 2025 Cup
Knicks guard and NBA Cup Most Valuable Player Jalen Brunson is among the five standout players named to the All-Tournament team for the 2025 Cup, according to an announcement from the league (Twitter link).
The All-Tournament team, which was voted on by 20 media members and is based on players’ performance in both group play and the knockout round, is as follows:
Jalen Brunson, Knicks (20 total votes)- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder (18)
- Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks (12)
- Luka Doncic, Lakers (11)
- De’Aaron Fox, Spurs (11)
Brunson led the Knicks to this year’s NBA Cup title by averaging 33.2 points and 5.8 assists per game with a .531/.462/.658 shooting line in six games, including Tuesday’s final. Towns complemented him by putting up 21.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per night in his seven Cup outings, shooting 48.4% from the floor and 37.1% on three-pointers.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.6 points, 6.3 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in six Cup games before his Thunder were sent home in Saturday’s semifinal. He also had a scorching hot shooting line of .595/.481/.877 in those games.
Doncic’s Lakers were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but he put up monster numbers in his five Cup contests, including 36.2 PPG, 10.0 APG, and 7.6 RPG per game, plus a 44.2% three-point mark.
Fox helped guide the Spurs to the Cup final by averaging 22.3 PPG and 7.7 APG while converting 39.5% of his three-pointers.
Magic wing Desmond Bane, Knicks forward OG Anunoby, and Spurs teammates Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama were among the players who just missed the cut for the team. The full voting results can be found right here.
Knicks Win 2025 NBA Cup; Jalen Brunson Named MVP
The Knicks won Tuesday’s NBA Cup final, defeating San Antonio, 124-113, to claim their first in-season tournament title.
Star point guard Jalen Brunson was named MVP of tournament, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
Brunson’s statistics in the championship game were fairly run-of-the-mill by his lofty standards; he finished with 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds in 41 minutes, but shot just 11-of-27 from the field and committed four turnovers. However, he was awarded MVP not only for his play in the final but for the group stage and knockout rounds as well.
According to the league (Twitter link), 20 members of the media selected the MVP and Brunson was nearly a unanimous winner, earning 19 votes. Knicks forward OG Anunoby, who had an outstanding final (29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, nine rebounds, three assists), received the other vote.
As Law Murray of The Athletic tweets, the Spurs were up 11 points with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, but the Knicks rallied behind major contributions from reserves Mitchell Robinson (15 rebounds — including 10 offensive — in 18 minutes), Tyler Kolek (14 points, five rebounds, five assists in 20 minutes), and Jordan Clarkson (15 points in 27 minutes).
Brunson made sure to credit Anunoby, Robinson, Kolek and Clarkson after he was awarded MVP. “Without them, we don’t win this,” Brunson said, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Rookie guard Dylan Harper scored a team-high 21 points for San Antonio in the loss, and also matched a team-high with seven rebounds.
Head coach Mike Brown told the Knicks before the game that a banner would be raised in Madison Square Garden if they won, notes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (via Twitter).
Knicks, Spurs Advance To NBA Cup Final
Behind game highs of 40 points and eight assists from star guard Jalen Brunson, the Knicks defeated the Magic by 12 points on Saturday in Las Vegas to advance to the final of the NBA Cup, also known as the in-season tournament.
“When you have an MVP of the league candidate in Jalen Brunson, you know, 16-for-27, 40 points, he makes the game easier for everybody,” head coach Mike Brown said, per Vincent Goodwill of ESPN. “That’s what MVPs are supposed to do, and he definitely did that tonight.”
Karl-Anthony Towns (29 points on 9-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds) and OG Anunoby (24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, three steals) were among the other standouts for New York.
Jalen Suggs led Orlando with 26 points and seven assists, but he was forced to leave the game in the third quarter due to a left hip injury.
The other semifinal matchup featured San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Spurs emerged with a two-point victory over the defending champions, ending the Thunder’s 16-game winning streak in the process.
As Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com details, while four Spurs finished with 20-plus points, the primary takeaway from the game was the play of big man Victor Wembanyama, who was making his first appearance in a month after missing the past 12 games due to a left calf strain. Coming off the bench for the first time in his career, the French star finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, with San Antonio outscoring OKC by 21 points in his 21 minutes.
“It’s our first time playing [with] everybody [healthy],” Wembanyama said. “We were already a solid team already more than 20 games ago. It’s just experience. We’re just figuring it out. And the difference with us and [Oklahoma City] is we haven’t had this many reps recognizing what it takes to win. And this is our next step.
“This OKC team, they’re not just first in the league. They’re way ahead of everybody. And when you watch them, no matter who, whether it’s the 12th man or the starting five, whether they’re playing against the 15th seed or any kind of game, they’re playing the same way. They’re enjoying the little things that make them win, and this is the next step we have to pass.”
The final between New York and San Antonio will take place Tuesday at 7:30 pm CT in Las Vegas, the NBA announced (via Twitter). Both teams are currently 18-7.
Knicks Notes: Yabusele, Alvarado, Anunoby, Brunson, Magic
Unless Guerschon Yabusele‘s play and role with the Knicks change substantially over the next several weeks, both sides would probably be better off parting ways prior to the February 5 trade deadline, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link).
As Bondy explains, Yabusele was New York’s primary free agent addition over the summer — the team signed the French forward to a two-year, $11.25MM contract using the taxpayer mid-level exception. However, the signing took place prior to the hiring of new head coach Mike Brown, and Yabusele hasn’t fit well in Brown’s fast-paced offensive system.
Yabusele becomes trade-eligible on Monday, and while he wouldn’t be viewed as a positive asset on his own, his salary could be useful for matching purposes, Bondy notes. The Knicks could use a backup point guard, and Bondy cites Jose Alvarado as a player who might fit the team’s needs.
Alvarado, who earns $4.5MM this season with an identical player option for 2026/27, would be a popular name on the market if the Pelicans make him available to trade, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link), who agrees that the Knicks would be among the teams with interest in the New York native.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Forward OG Anunoby has quickly shown his importance to the Knicks after returning from a hamstring strain earlier this month, per Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. The team has gone 3-0 with Anunoby back in action and is now 76-36 (.679 winning percentage) when the 28-year-old plays during the regular season since his arrival in 2023/24, Schwartz writes, compared to 25-20 (.556) when he has been unavailable. “OG, he was all over the place,” Josh Hart said after Tuesday’s win in Toronto, when Anunoby keyed a second-quarter run. “He really helped start that run and then we were able to get stops, play fast, get out in transition and play to our strength. Huge shoutout to him, really changed the tide of the game.”
- Brown continues to push star guard Jalen Brunson‘s MVP candidacy, as Andrew Crane of The New York Post relays. When asked if Brunson is already among the greatest players in Knicks history, Brown didn’t hesitate to give an affirmative reply. “He’s been here long enough,” Brown said Thursday. “He’s helped them win a lot of games. Obviously, he did start in Dallas, but he was a little younger. It wasn’t his team. He wasn’t really the guy. He came here, it’s his team, he’s the guy here, he’s an MVP candidate, like I said, and so what he’s doing is definitely franchise-altering, and again, that has to be taken note [of]. Not just in the MVP race but also within the community of New York.”
- Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal will mark New York’s fourth matchup with Orlando this season, with the Magic winning the first two contests before the Knicks claimed the third last Sunday, observes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Saturday could be a potential playoff preview for two teams hoping to come out of the Eastern Conference. “I don’t feel it’s on the rivalry level yet,” Brown said after Thursday’s practice. “It can be in due time, but I don’t think it’s there yet.”
Knicks Notes: NBA Cup, McBride, Towns, Bridges, Anunoby
While Josh Hart says the pressure of the NBA Cup is “not even close” to competing in the playoffs, he and the rest of the Knicks are focused on winning their first in-season tournament title after being eliminated in the quarterfinals each of the past two years, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link).
“Every year, we fell short at this stage,” Hart said. “So we got to get over that hump.”
The Knicks open the knockout stage at Toronto on Tuesday. If they win, they’ll advance the semifinal and face the winner of Miami vs. Orlando in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“Life is short. And this is how I look at it — you want excitement in your life. So you try to put yourselves in position when you have pressure at times,” head coach Mike Brown said. “That’s something that, if you’re a competitor and you want some excitement in your life, you embrace it. And one of our standards is having a competitive spirit. So all of our guys. Especially as you go along and advance, you should embrace any type of pressure that comes along with it.
“And it also helps you prepare for times down the road when you’re put in the same situation. So in the regular season, this is about as close as you can get to simulating a playoff run. So we try to talk about it and add more pressure to it and handle it the right way and see if we can go get it.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- Miles McBride, who sustained a left ankle injury in Sunday’s win over Orlando and underwent an MRI on Monday, has been diagnosed with a sprain and will miss Tuesday’s game, according to Bondy (Twitter links). The 25-year-old guard was spotted in a walking boot earlier in the day, Bondy adds. Karl-Anthony Towns, who was ruled out of Sunday’s contest due to left calf tightness, is questionable for the matchup against the Raptors.
- Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby are both worthy of legitimate consideration for their first All-Star appearances, contends James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. As Edwards explains, the Knicks are currently the No. 2 seed in the East, and if that continues, they’ll be deserving of having multiple All-Stars. Anunoby was arguably New York’s second-best player to open the season, but he missed nine games with a hamstring strain, leaving Bridges as the stronger candidate as of now. While neither player puts up gaudy offensive stats, they’ve both been highly efficient on that end on top of being top-notch defenders, Edwards writes. “He’s impacting winning,” Hart said of Bridges. “He plays both sides of the ball. Defensively, he’s been amazing. He’s been an All-Defense player for us.”
- The Knicks improved to 13-1 at home with Sunday’s victory, notes Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post (subscription required), and that edge at Madison Square Garden could be an important factor in the playoffs for a team with championship aspirations. “We’ve done a great job of protecting our home court,” Hart said after contributing 17 points, 12 rebounds and two steals Sunday. “This should be the hardest place to play in the NBA, and we want teams to know that.”
Southeast Notes: Whitmore, Hornets, NBA Cup Money, Bane
Poor practice habits are the reason Wizards coach Brian Keefe decided to bench Cam Whitmore, sources tell Grant Afseth of RG. Keefe stated over the weekend that Whitmore wasn’t living up to “certain standards,” but added that any further details would be kept internal. Afseth hears that the decision is in line with Keefe’s focus on accountability, consistency and building strong daily habits.
Washington was hoping Whitmore would blossom in his third NBA season after acquiring him from Houston, where he struggled to earn playing time on a talented roster. However, his numbers have been in line with his first two years as he’s averaging 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per night while shooting 45.6% from the field and a career-worst 28.6% from three-point range.
Afseth notes that Will Riley has been the biggest beneficiary of Whitmore’s reduced minutes and is earning a consistent spot in the rotation. The rookie forward has been delivering the energy that Keefe demands while averaging 11.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist in his last three games.
Afseth adds that the door isn’t closed on Whitmore’s future in Washington, but he’ll have to meet the benchmarks that Keefe has established. The organization is evaluating all its young players based on their daily habits and long-term development, and Whitmore has to improve in those areas to reclaim regular minutes.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- A five-day break comes at a good time for the Hornets, who were down to 11 healthy players in Sunday’s loss to Denver, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer (subscription required). LaMelo Ball, Collin Sexton, Tre Mann and Moussa Diabate were all sidelined by injuries, along with Grant Williams and Josh Green, who haven’t played yet this season. “It’s going to be great for us,” Miles Bridges said of the time off. “Some guys are hurt right now. They should be back by that time hopefully. But if not, we’re going to have a next-up-mentality, next man.”
- Money is a huge motivator for the Heat and Magic as they prepare to square off Tuesday in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Players with standard contracts on the eight teams that have advanced to the knockout round have already earned an additional $53,093, and the rewards rise to $106,187 for reaching the semifinals, $212,373 for the finals and $530,933 for winning the tournament. “I think that’s kind of why they did it, for us to just buy into it a little bit more,” Miami guard Dru Smith said. “But also I think anytime you have a chance early in the season to really go and compete for something, even though it’s just a one-game series, basically, win or go home. Just to really have a chance to get a playoff feel this early, with the team, we were looking forward to that, coming into the season. I think it’s just something that will be really beneficial.”
- Knicks players were upset after Magic guard Desmond Bane fired the ball at OG Anunoby, who had fallen out of bounds, in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game (YouTube link), relays Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. Bane received a technical foul and was subsequently booed by New York fans every time he touched the ball. Anunoby shoved Bane after the incident, but he decided not to escalate the situation. “I was confused at first, then it was funny,” he said. “I like Desmond. … He’s a good dude.”
Knicks Notes: Giannis, Anunoby, Hart, Kolek
The Knicks are a long shot to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo if the Bucks superstar requests a trade, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
The Knicks’ acquisition of Mikal Bridges prior to last season, in which they gave up five first-round picks to the Nets, left them without the necessary draft capital that other suitors could offer. The only way Giannis would wind up with the Knicks, Bondy writes, is if he specifically demanded a trade to New York and warned that he wouldn’t re-sign with any other team that wanted to acquire him.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- They rolled to a 34-point win over the Jazz on Friday. OG Anunoby returned to the lineup and scored 11 points in 23 minutes. He was on a minutes restriction after missing nine games due to a left hamstring strain. “You always worry when you get a big lead, you don’t want anybody to get hurt, but we needed to get OG Anunoby some game minutes just to work on his conditioning,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said, per Vince Goodwill of ESPN. “And I thought he looked good for the timings out there. I would have loved to get him to 25, 26 minutes. But, you know, 22, 23 worked good enough, especially with the way we had the lead.”
- Josh Hart made his seventh start of the season on Friday and Brown claims it was a staff-driven decision to put him back in the lineup, according to Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. “You wanna know the truth? I rely on my staff, and I had reasons why I was starting it that way, but my staff, all of them were like, ‘Hey, these are the reasons why it would be better,’” Brown said. “And the reality of it is I just listened to my staff. I said, ‘OK, If I’m the only one thinking that the other way may be better at that time, then maybe I’m wrong.’ And I have been wrong before, and I will be wrong again in the future.”
- Teammates call Tyler Kolek goofy but the second-round pick from 2024 is in a serious fight for minutes and a rotation spot. He has received steady playing time the last eight games due to injuries. “Especially a guy like me, I’m fighting for my life,” Kolek told Jared Schwartz of the New York Post. “I’m trying to get as many minutes as I can, get the coach’s trust, get these guys’ trust as much as I can, so I gotta bring not just the basketball stuff every day, but my personality, my energy, give those guys whatever I can to help the team.”
Magic’s Banchero, Knicks’ Anunoby Questionable Friday
A pair of key NBA players could return from their respective injuries on Friday.
Magic forward Paolo Banchero has been upgraded to questionable for Friday’s game vs. Miami, as first reported by Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel and subsequently confirmed by the team (Twitter links).
Banchero, the first overall pick in the 2022 draft, has missed the past 10 games with a left groin strain.
The injury designation for Banchero is somewhat surprising. As Beede writes, head coach Jamahl Mosley indicated after shootaround on Wednesday morning that the former Duke star was still limited to non-contact drills in practice. Perhaps that changed over the past 36 hours.
“At the end of the day, we always try to see how he’s responding to each day and how he recovers that next day after he’s gone through treatments and workouts,” Mosley said.
For what it’s worth, Banchero said on November 23 that he was “definitely feeling close” to returning from the injury. Orlando has compiled a 7-3 record without the 23-year-old and is currently 13-9.
Banchero was limited to 46 games last season after making 80 regular season appearances in year two. The 2024 All-Star signed a maximum-salary rookie scale extension this summer that includes Rose Rule language — he could earn a significant raise if he makes an All-NBA team this season, but he’d only be eligible if he appears in at least 65 games.
Veteran forward OG Anunoby also has a chance to return to action on Friday, having been listed as questionable for the Knicks‘ matchup with Utah, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link). The former All-Defensive member has missed the past nine games with a strained left hamstring.
Anunoby was cleared for controlled contact work and 3-on-3 scrimmaging over the weekend, then head coach Mike Brown said on Wednesday that the 28-year-old had taken full contact, as James L. Edwards III of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
“He’s progressing in the right direction,” Brown said.
Anunoby was off to an impressive start to the 2025/26 season before the hamstring strain, averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals through 11 games (33.5 minutes per contest). His shooting line over that span was .483/.397/.760.
New York is currently 14-7. The team has gone 6-3 in Anunoby’s absence.
OG Anunoby Making Progress In Hamstring Recovery
Knicks forward OG Anunoby has been cleared for controlled contact work and 3-on-3 scrimmaging as he continues to make progress from a left hamstring strain, Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News writes.
“He’s doing some on-court work and [we’re] continuing to monitor him. We’re not gonna rush him,” head coach Mike Brown said ahead of Sunday’s matchup against the Raptors.
Anunoby is not yet taking full contact and there’s still no official timetable for his return, but Brown referred to the on-court work as “a good step for him in the process.”
The 28-year-old defensive stalwart injured his hamstring in the first quarter of a November 14 game against Miami. A couple days later, it was reported that Anunoby would be reevaluated in two weeks — this is the first update on his status since.
Anunoby was off to an impressive start to the 2025/26 season before the hamstring strain, averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals through 11 games (33.5 minutes per contest). His shooting line over that span was .483/.397/.760.
Josh Hart has been the primary recipient of more usage and playing time with Anunoby out.
Knicks Notes: Hart, Brunson, Shamet, Diawara, Towns, More
Knicks wing Josh Hart had the best year of his career in 2024/25 playing under Tom Thibodeau, starting 77 games while leading the NBA in minutes per game (37.6) and posting career highs in rebounds (9.6), assists (5.9) and steals (1.5) as well as his second-best averages in points (13.6) and field goal percentage (52.5).
While his per-36 averages are very similar to last season’s, Hart is coming off the bench and playing far fewer minutes (25.8 MPG) in ’25/26 under new head coach Mike Brown, writes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Hart’s reduced role is partly due to being hampered by back spasms during the preseason, and his workload has increased lately with OG Anunoby out with a hamstring strain.
“I hope [I play more],” Hart said before Wednesday’s win in Dallas. “Before [Anunoby] went down, I think I was playing the least minutes of my career.”
According to Winfield, the 30-year-old concedes he keeps tabs on his minutes — but only when he’s angry.
“When I’m mad, yeah,” Hart said. “But I’m ready to have to always do what needs to be done to help the team get wins.”
For his part, Brown has nothing but good things to say about Hart.
“They’re not the same player, but he’s such a glue piece like Andre Iguodala was in Golden State,” Brown said. “He just ties everything and anybody together. He does so many things out there that are just really simple that makes the game easier for everybody… And he can definitely do that for us and probably play more minutes, but at the end of the day, we have a good team, and I’m gonna try to spread [the minutes] around as best I can.”
We have much more on the Knicks:
- Hart recently told Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link) that he tried to find a way to to land with the Wizards during his 2021 restricted free agency because of his respect for Russell Westbrook, who was a member of the team at the time. “His competitiveness, his passion — he’s one of the guys I definitely admire,” Hart said. Bondy’s story is centered on Hart being the top rebounder in the league for his size.
- After missing two games with a Grade 1 right ankle sprain, star point guard Jalen Brunson returned to action on Wednesday and helped lead the Knicks to a victory against his former team, per Steve Popper of Newsday (subscription required). The two-time All-NBA member recorded 28 points, five assists and three rebounds in 35 minutes during the two-point win.
- Brown didn’t personally know Landry Shamet prior to landing the Knicks job, but he had long admired the veteran sharpshooter’s game and “pushed” to keep him on the roster before the ’25/26 campaign began, Bondy reports (subscriber link). Brown’s decision is looking shrewd in the early going, Bondy writes, as Shamet — who is on a non-guaranteed contract — has thrived under his new coach. “I was a big fan of him, watching [him] play last year and even prior, and so it was, for me, having him a part of this team, completed the group,” Brown said. “Now we have a lot of diverse guys. He’s just doing, in my opinion, what he’s capable of doing.”
- Brown’s management of the bench has been paying dividends so far in ’25/26, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “It’s so early in the season, the reality of it is that I don’t want to gas my guys this early in the season,” Brown said. “If the minutes can be respectable across the board, especially at this time of the year, then we can increase the minutes come playoff time or late in the season. Getting these guys reps in case (*knocks on wood*) someone gets hurt or in case we have to throw someone in the game. There is a comfort level that they have, and not only that they have, but I have, the staff has and everybody else has with someone new on the floor.”
- Brown says he’d like to find more playing time for French forward Mohamed Diawara, having praised the rookie for his contributions over the past couple games (story via Bondy). “I would’ve loved to play Mo out there a little longer,” Brown said after Diawara played two minutes in Wednesday’s win. “Mo has done a great job in short minutes he played and to try to get him some minutes during this time of year, especially while OG is out, to keep us long and athletic would be ideal. And I’m going to keep searching to try to do it.”
- While Karl-Anthony Towns is off to a slow start in Brown’s offensive system, he says he’s “having fun with it” and is confident his subpar percentages will normalize over time, as Winfield relays. “I want to find different ways to impact this team winning, and just continue to figure everything out. We all are,” Towns said. “So definitely on my part, I could do a better job hitting some shots. But I’ll get to that. Numbers will always number out. So I’m just staying confident.”
- In a mailbag article, Ian Begley of SNY.tv predicts the Knicks will prioritize finding a backup point guard prior to the trade deadline. He also expects the front office to have conversations with the Mavericks in the coming weeks to discover their asking price for Anthony Davis.