Finals Notes: Champagnie, Alvarado, Castle, Brunson, Robinson, MSG Ticket Prices
The Spurs‘ Julian Champagnie and the Knicks‘ Jose Alvarado have a rivalry that began long before their meeting in the NBA Finals, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. They’re both New York City natives who squared off several times during high school in the Catholic League.
“I won’t lie, they definitely got the better of us quite a bit when he was at Christ the King and I was at Loughlin,” Champagnie said. “But always good memories. He was a great guard, quick, crafty, feisty.”
Braziller notes that those old memories sparked again in the first game of the Finals as Alvarado made a shot over Champagnie and punctuated it with some trash talk. Champagnie scored against Alvarado later on and responded in kind.
“I think it’s just friendly banter, honestly and truly. Obviously, I’ve known Jose for a while,” Champagnie said. “Yeah, he makes one, he talks. I make one, I talk. That’s just how New York is. That’s how it goes.”
There’s more from the NBA Finals:
- Spurs guard Stephon Castle has drawn a series of challenging defensive assignments in the playoffs, including two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the conference finals and Knicks star Jalen Brunson in this round. Castle talked to Peter Sblendorio of The New York Daily News (subscription required) about how he approaches players of that caliber. “They’re very similar in ways,” Castle said. “I think Shai is more of a threat to get all the way downhill, all the way to the basket. I think Jalen likes to use angles a lot more, uses probably a little bit more pump fakes than Shai. Mostly it’s angles, trying to get to his spots, not really trying to draw fouls as much, but trying to get to his mid-range and get to spots to where he likes.”
- A fan who was verbally harassing Brunson during Game 1 has been barred from sitting at courtside for the rest of the Finals, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Brunson had to be restrained from charging the fan by Alvarado and referee Scott Foster after the game ended.
- A technical foul (Twitter video link) that Knicks center Mitchell Robinson received midway through the second quarter of Friday’s game has been rescinded, the league announced (Twitter link).
- Ticket prices for the upcoming games at Madison Square Garden are already setting records, according to Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. As of Friday, the cheapest available ticket for Monday’s Game 3 on Gametime was $9,130. For Wednesday’s Game 4, when the Knicks could potentially wrap up their first NBA title since 1973, nearly all prices on StubHub top $20K, with courtside seats in the range of $70K to $140K.
Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, Game 2, Castle, Barnes
As Victor Wembanyama released a 20-foot shot that would have given San Antonio the lead in the closing seconds Friday night, his teammates had complete confidence that it was going in, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News writes in a subscriber-only story.
“He’s made that shot a thousand times,” Stephon Castle said. “That’s a shot he makes in his sleep,” Dylan Harper added. “He makes that shot nine times out of 10,” De’Aaron Fox echoed.
But when it mattered most, the ball clanged off the back of the rim, and the final buzzer sounded before the Spurs could get off another good shot, leaving them with a 2-0 deficit as the NBA Finals heads to New York. It capped a rough ending to the game for Wembanyama, who committed a devastating turnover a few seconds earlier when his outlet pass bounced off the back of Castle, who wasn’t expecting the ball.
“Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course,” Wembanyama said. “Am I going to use that to fuel me and fuel us next game? Absolutely.”
There’s more from San Antonio:
- Coach Mitch Johnson called it “not acceptable” that Wembanyama only took four shots in the first half and acknowledged that players, the coaching staff and the French star himself have to make a better effort to keep him involved in the offense, McDonald adds. Wembanyama returned to his usual dominance after intermission, finishing with 29 points, nine rebounds and four blocks and helping the Spurs erase a late 12-point deficit. “We came in (at halftime) and we were like, ‘We need you to be aggressive,’” Fox said. “That is what it is. He came out in the second and was much better for us.”
- Turnover problems reemerged for Castle in the Game 2 loss as he gave the ball up four times in 28 minutes, notes Tom Orsborn of The Express-News (subscription required). Johnson said the second-year guard is getting caught in the air too often while deciding what to do with the ball, and Castle agrees. “I think just trying to overthink some reads sometimes,” Castle said. “I got caught in traffic, especially deep in the paint. It’s something I can go back and look at and see how I can fix.”
- Thirty-four-year-old Harrison Barnes has been telling his younger teammates to make the most of this trip to the NBA Finals and not assume they’ll be back every year, Orsborn relays in a separate story. Barnes reached the Finals with Golden State during his first two seasons, but had to wait another decade to return. “Every single year you have to begin at the start of the journey, the start of the mountain and climb, and health is a major part of it,” Barnes said. “So, I don’t think it’s necessarily a mentality where we say, ‘This is their only shot,’ (or) ‘Just because we’re young, we have a lot of different opportunities.’ This may be the last time both teams are in the Finals for a while. We have no idea.”
Thunder Won’t Look To Move Chet Holmgren
Chet Holmgren remains a fixture on the Thunder roster despite his underwhelming performance in the Western Conference Finals. Oklahoma City has no interest in dealing away Holmgren, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
While the Thunder face some difficult roster decisions over the next few weeks, including team options on Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort and Kenrich Williams, a Holmgren trade won’t be under consideration, says Fischer.
Holmgren was badly outplayed by Spurs star Victor Wembanyama in the conference finals, as he averaged 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in the series. That included a Game 7 clunker in which he contributed just four points and four rebounds in 33 minutes.
Holmgren, who was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive first team this season and was the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, is entering the first year of a five-year maximum-salary extension. Fischer notes that Holmgren’s length and impact on defense, paired with his floor-spacing ability, is difficult to replace.
Oklahoma City could be active on the trade market but are more likely to make some moves regarding its draft picks. The Thunder hold the 12th, 17th, and 37th picks in this month’s draft. Isaiah Joe or Aaron Wiggins could be dealt to help the team avoid the second tax apron, Fischer adds.
League sources tell Fischer that Oklahoma City remains unlikely to enter the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. While they have the young talent and draft picks to make a serious offer to the Bucks, Sam Presti isn’t the type of GM who would surrender that type of capital for a star player, particularly one already past the age of 30.
The Bucks are trending toward an Antetokounmpo trade between now and the draft because Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam essentially established such a timeline in early May.
And-Ones: Westhead, NBA Finals, Mitrou-Long, BAL
Paul Westhead is the 2026 recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced in a press release.
Westhead’s coaching career spanned five decades and a total of 38 seasons. He spent 12 years as a head and assistant coach in the NBA and also coached in the WNBA, NCAA and internationally. He’s the only head coach in basketball history to win both an NBA (with the Lakers in 1980) and a WNBA championship (with the Phoenix Mercury in 2007), per the statement.
Known as a progenitor of the run-and-gun offense, Westhead also spent time as head coach of the Bulls and Nuggets and had an extensive college career with La Salle, Loyola Marymount (Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble era), George Mason, and Oregon.
“We are honored to recognize Paul Westhead as the recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Pistons head coach and NBCA president J.B. Bickerstaff. “Coach Westhead’s impact on the game extends far beyond wins and championships.
“He challenged conventional thinking, introduced ideas that were ahead of their time, and influenced generations of coaches across every level of men’s and women’s basketball. His commitment to innovation, teaching, and the growth of our game has left a lasting mark on our profession, making him truly deserving of this recognition.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Wednesday’s contest between the Spurs and Knicks was the most-watched NBA Finals Game 1 since 2018, when the Warriors and Cavaliers faced off for the fourth straight year, according to ESPN PR (story via Ronce Rajan). Viewership was up 90% compared to last year, when a pair of small market teams (Oklahoma City and Indiana) squared off. Wednesday’s game was also the most-viewed Finals game overall since Game 6 in 2019 (Warriors-Raptors).
- Canadian guard Naz Mitrou-Long has signed a three-year contract with PAOK BC, the Greek team confirmed in a press statement. The 32-year-old spent parts of three NBA seasons with the Jazz and Pacers and has spent the past several years in Europe, playing in Italy, Greece and Lithuania.
- Deputy NBA commissioner Mark Tatum recently spoke to Marc J. Spears of Andscape about the next steps for the Basketball Africa League (BAL). “We are in the process now of transitioning the BAL from a completely open league and model where every year, 12 different teams could participate in the league,” Tatum told Andscape in a phone interview. “In order to qualify now, you have to win your national championship. So, we basically take 12 national champions. And of course, those national champions can change every single year. So, after the first six seasons, we’ve decided that now is the right time to transition the BAL from an open model to more of a franchise model and a semi-closed model.”
Spurs Notes: Game 2, Fox, K. Johnson, Wembanyama
The Spurs have remained calm since losing Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, viewing it as one more bit of adversity that needs to be overcome on their way to a title, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN. Victor Wembanyama said he isn’t “worried in the slightest” about how the team will respond when the series resumes tonight.
“We know we’re not here by chance,” Wembanyama said. “We’ve been through some weird, weird, situations [or] whatever. It’s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we’ve got, are built this way. [They] are resilient.”
Wright notes that the Spurs weren’t viewed as ready to be championship contenders when the season began, and there were worrisome injuries hanging over the team as it gathered for training camp. Wembanyama was returning from deep vein thrombosis that forced him to miss the final 36 games of last season, Dylan Harper just a few weeks removed from surgery to fix a partially torn ligament in his left thumb and De’Aaron Fox was uncertain for camp due to a lingering hamstring strain.
Even with the health questions and concerns over having so many young players in the rotation, general manager Brian Wright was a firm believer in the roster he assembled.
“When we were whole last year you saw flashes of it,” he said. “And the bulk of our group is incredibly young. The one thing you could bank on was improvement, whether that be Vic, Steph (Castle), as well as Keldon (Johnson) and Devin (Vassell). There’s Julian (Champagnie), too. They’re still growing. Just with the evolution of the guys we have and then someone of Fox’s caliber being here in the offseason, there’s a real chance we could match up and play with all the teams at the top of the league. Obviously, you’ve got to do the work. But we believe in the group we have.”
There’s more from San Antonio:
- As the veteran in the Spurs’ backcourt, Fox needs to have a better showing in Game 2, states Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. Fox only had seven points in 38 minutes in the opener while shooting 3-of-13 from the field and missing his all attempts from outside the paint. “I’ve got to make shots,” he said. “Obviously I’m not shooting the ball as much. But coming here, I knew that was the way it was going to be. As a player, you sacrifice for the betterment of the team. There are times where I need to take shots or times where I don’t take as many shots, but at the end of the day, you need to make the shots that you take.”
- Game 1 was also a disappointment for Johnson, this season’s Sixth Man of the Year, who scored just three points in eight minutes, Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News writes in a subscriber-only story. Johnson promises that it won’t affect him for the rest of the series. “When you get in a series like this, once the game is over, you process it that night and then we come back and we break it down today,” he said. “And then you got to let it go. You can’t let it linger on to other games. You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. You got to try and stay as even-keeled as possible. I’ll correct those mistakes and be back at it tomorrow.”
- Jared Weiss of The Athletic examines the marketing strategy to make Wembanyama the most popular athlete in the world, including his statement to Nike executives last year that “I’m not gonna give basketball a choice of who the face is going to be.”
Finals Notes: Wemby, Brunson, Rotations, Sochan
After entering the NBA Finals as favorites, the Spurs are now considered underdogs to win the series following their Game 1 loss to the Knicks. However, San Antonio’s top players are unfazed by the deficit, according to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required), who points out that the team also lost Game 1 of its Minnesota series and was down 2-1 and 3-2 to Oklahoma City before coming back to advance.
“We feel like we’re the better team,” Spurs guard Stephon Castle said. “We didn’t play well and still had a chance to win.”
Big man Victor Wembanyama, meanwhile, stated that he isn’t “worried in the slightest” about San Antonio’s ability to respond to the Game 1 loss. Like Castle, he pointed out that the Spurs played a subpar game by their standards and still had a chance to pull out a win in the fourth quarter.
“It’s almost like I have to play normal, not even good (in Game 2),” Wembanyama said, per Michael C. Wright of ESPN. “It’s just (about) doing the right things enough. When we play bad, when I play bad, is when we shoot ourselves in the foot. This is why I’m not worried. We’re going to be so much better. I’m going to be so much better.”
Here’s more on the NBA Finals as the Spurs and Knicks gear up for Game 2 on Friday night:
- The difference in Game 1, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic, was that Knicks guard Jalen Brunson knew had to close out the victory, while Wembanyama “looked a little lost by comparison.” However, Wembanyama has proven to be a quick learner over the course of his first playoff run and his teammates are confident in his ability to figure things out going forward. “I feel like that is kind of who he is. He never backs down from the moment,” Spurs guard Dylan Harper said. “He always kind of steps up and meets it.”
- The NBA is investigating an incident that took place near the end of Game 1, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who reports (via Twitter) that Brunson took exception to a pair of courtside fans who were directing “profane” and “derogatory” comments toward him. As Haynes explained during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show (Twitter video link), Brunson spoke to referee Scott Foster at the end of the game about those fans.
- As Law Murray of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), both the Knicks and Spurs pared down their rotations from 10 players to nine during the second half of Game 1. Veteran guard Jordan Clarkson was the casualty for New York, while rookie forward Carter Bryant was San Antonio’s odd man out.
- Former Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan, now a member of the Knicks, has played in just five of the team’s 15 playoff games so far, exclusively in garbage time, but he said ahead of Game 1 that he’s “staying ready” and trying to be the best teammate he can be, per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). “Not all 18 guys can play on the court, so you have to accept that part and not be a cancer to the team,” Sochan said.
Mitchell Robinson Will Play In Game 1
7:01 pm: Robinson will play in Game 1, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.
12:o1 pm: Knicks center Mitchell Robinson fully participated in Tuesday’s practice and is expected to be available for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday in San Antonio, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
While it remains unclear how exactly he sustained the injury, which didn’t occur didn’t a game or practice, Robinson fractured the fifth metacarpal bone in his right hand following the team’s Eastern Conference finals win over Cleveland and underwent surgery last week to repair the break.
Similar injuries typically require recovery periods of at least two weeks and sometimes much more than that, but Robinson has been repeatedly described as determined to suit up for the Knicks when the series gets underway. Videos from the practice court on Tuesday showed the big man shooting, passing, and dribbling the ball with his affected hand while wearing a protective wrap.
Robinson was listed on Tuesday as questionable to play in Game 1 and that designation has yet to be officially updated, but Charania’s reporting suggests he’s on track to be upgraded to available later in the day.
A member of the Knicks since 2018, Robinson is no longer the team’s starting center and averaged just 19.6 minutes per game during the regular season. However, he remains very valuable as a situation role player who can impact the game with his rebounding and rim protection, so it would be a boon to New York if he’s able to give the team some productive minutes against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.
In 13 playoff appearances, Robinson has averaged 5.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game. Head coach Mike Brown has had to be extra careful about how he uses the 28-year-old to limit the extent to which opponents can exploit his poor free throw shooting. Robinson has made just 13-of-43 shots (30.2%) from the foul line during the postseason.
And-Ones: Seattle, Murray, Canada, Aspiration, Extensions
In addition to announcing that Melinda French Gates is joining the Seattle Kraken’s ownership group as a minority investor, Samantha Holloway, the majority owner of the NHL team, confirmed that she’s assembling a group that will make a bid for an NBA franchise based in Seattle, writes Emily Kaplan of ESPN.
Holloway also pointed out that the Kraken’s ownership group has strengthened its case to bring the NBA to Seattle by acquiring a majority stake in Climate Pledge Arena, where the Kraken and the WNBA’s Seattle Storm play.
“The City of Seattle certainly could use an NBA team, and the fans here are ready for it,” Holloway said. “If that happens, they will all buy their Kraken friends beers because it wouldn’t happen without them. So we are hopeful, we are working on it, and stay tuned.”
We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Exploring at greater length why Jamal Murray isn’t expected to play for the Canadian national team in international competition anytime soon, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca explains that Canada Basketball was seeking three-year commitments from its players, and the Nuggets guard wasn’t able to commit to being available for each of the next three summers. “If guys don’t commit this summer, they’re not in,” new national team coach Gordon Herbert said. “When I was with Germany, we had six or seven NBA guys and three guys didn’t come, they didn’t want to come. All of sudden they wanted to come (in) year two. Sorry. You can’t be successful in anything without commitment, in my opinion.”
- Joseph Sanberg, the co-founder of the now-bankrupt green banking company Aspiration, was sentenced this week to 14 years in federal prison, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Judge Stephen V. Wilson described Sanberg as “greedy, brazen, callous” and said he would “put the grade of his fraud at the zenith,” as Holmes relays. Kawhi Leonard‘s sponsorship deal with Aspiration and Steve Ballmer‘s investment in the company are at the center of the NBA’s investigation into possible salary cap circumvention by the Clippers. In advance of his sentencing, the league said in a letter to Wilson that Sanberg “substantially assisted” its probe, while Ballmer’s attorneys advocated against leniency for the Aspiration co-founder, writing that Sanberg “flagrantly defrauded” the Clippers owner.
- Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama is the only player eligible for a rookie scale extension who is likely to sign a maximum-salary contract this offseason, in the view of Keith Smith of Spotrac. However, Smith – projecting possible deals for each member of the 2023 draft class – view Hornets forward Brandon Miller (five years, $200MM), Rockets guard Amen Thompson (five years, $185MM), and Jazz guard Keyonte George (four years, $152MM) as strong candidates for lucrative extensions.
Fischer’s Latest: Brown, Pelicans, Murphy, Kyrie, Sixers
The Pelicans have been “mentioned by various league executives” as one of the teams with interest in Celtics wing Jaylen Brown, NBA insider Jake Fischer said in his latest live stream for Bleacher Report (video link).
Fischer’s colleague Marc Stein previously named Atlanta, Houston, and Portland as teams to watch for Brown, though as Fischer points out, there have been no real indications yet that the Celtics will seriously consider the idea of trading the All-NBA second-teamer this offseason.
With Brown’s salary set to rise to $57MM in 2026/27, any Pelicans package for Brown would have to start with at least one of Zion Williamson, Jordan Poole, Dejounte Murray, or Trey Murphy III for matching purposes. Of those players, the versatile sharpshooter Murphy would almost certainly draw the most interest from the Celtics or other potential trade partners (in multi-team scenarios).
According to Fischer, San Antonio had been one of the teams most interested in Murphy over the past year or two, but the Spurs‘ run to the NBA Finals this spring makes them less likely to do anything drastic with their roster this summer.
Here are a few more highlights from Fischer’s live stream:
- While the Mavericks‘ new front office executives have expressed enthusiasm about seeing Cooper Flagg play alongside a healthy Kyrie Irving, Fischer doesn’t “necessarily believe” that Irving will still be on Dallas’ roster by the start of the 2026/27 season, noting that plenty of teams will inquire on the star point guard in the coming weeks. Irving missed all of ’25/26 while recovering from a torn ACL but should be ready to go for opening night in the fall.
- Although Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe look like the Sixers‘ top long-term building blocks, there’s no reason to believe Joel Embiid or Paul George will be going anywhere at this point, according to Fischer, who suggests that Philadelphia is “almost certain” to bring both players back. Embiid and George would be difficult to move for any real value due to their multiyear, maximum-salary contracts.
- Based on his conversations with sources around the NBA, Fischer wouldn’t be surprised if “most favorable” terms become more common on traded first-round picks, since that’s a way for teams stockpiling draft assets to hedge against the randomness of the new draft lottery format.
Finals Notes: Wemby, Castle, Brunson, Kornet, More
While their playing styles and physiques bear little resemblance, Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is providing the rest of the NBA’s teams with the same sort of unique challenges they faced three decades ago when Shaquille O’Neal emerged as a superstar in Orlando, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Like Wembanyama, O’Neal led his team to the NBA Finals in just his third year in the league.
“He’s Shaq,” one veteran NBA head coach said of Wembanyama, per Windhorst. “He eats clean, worries about how his water is filtered and doesn’t break backboards like Shaq did, but he presents the same problem. None of us know what the hell we’re going to do to stop him.”
“Of course people are going to compare him to Shaq but he’s actually Shaq 2.0,” a rival general manager added. “Because he takes care of his body and plays a modern game, shoots the three and can make free throws. Yeah, he’s our nightmare.”
While O’Neal eventually won four NBA championships, he didn’t earn his first one until 2000, well after he had left Orlando for Los Angeles. In 1995, he and a young Magic team entered the Finals as favorites, but were swept by Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets, who were defending their ’94 title. As Windhorst writes, the Spurs and Wembanyama will also enter the Finals without the edge in playoff experience, but they’re determined to avoid the same fate as O’Neal’s Magic.
“The lack of experience is a strength for us,” Wembanyama told ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “Because we could do impossible stuff … because we don’t know it’s impossible.”
Here’s more on the NBA Finals, which will get underway in a matter of hours:
- Stephon Castle‘s ability to slow down Knicks star Jalen Brunson will be one of the key factors of the Finals, according to Vincent Goodwill of ESPN, who notes that Brunson expressed nothing but respect for Castle at media day on Tuesday. “He’s great. I think his intensity and tenacity is special,” Brunson said. “He plays with a chip on his shoulder. He’s had that since I’ve seen him at UConn. The way he’s played over these first couple years of his career, he’s going to be a great player, great defender.” While the sample size is small, Castle has defended Brunson well in the past, holding him to 27.3% shooting (3-of-11), per Goodwill.
- Kurt Helin of NBC Sports passes along some of the notable quotes from Knicks and Spurs players at Tuesday’s media day, while Ben Golliver of ESPN ranks all 30 players involved in the series, from Wembanyama at No. 1 to Bismack Biyombo at No. 30.
- Facing the Knicks in the Finals represents a “full-circle” moment for reserve Spurs center Luke Kornet, as Howie Kussoy of The New York Post relays. Kornet spent the first two years of his NBA career with New York, playing on a two-way contract as a rookie. “I had a great time in my first two years, especially in Westchester,” Kornet said on Tuesday. “I feel like the group that we had, it was some really fun basketball that we played. That’s what I remember the most. We had a lot of talent and young guys and it felt like an extension of college. I felt like I was growing my game a lot at that time. A lot of guys always talk about the G League like you can’t wait to get out of it, but I really enjoyed my time.”
- Whichever team claims this year’s championship, it will be a win for the Philippines, according to Miguel Alfonso Caramoan of ESPN. As Caramoan observes, either Spurs guard Dylan Harper or Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson will become the first Filipino-descended NBA player to win a title.
- In a pair of stories for The New York Post, Andrew Crane digs into how the Knicks and Spurs acquired each of the 15 players on their current standard rosters.