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2026 NBA Finals: Can Victor Wembanyama continue his ascension against 'super hungry' Knicks?

Victor Wembanyama, the transcendent superstar who routinely pauses before each question to genuinely reflect for an earnest response, didn’t need any extra seconds when asked about the Knicks.

“It's a great team, you know,” Wembanyama told reporters Tuesday on the eve of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. “It's a great team of experienced guys who are not here by chance, but by relentless effort over the years. Very different career paths for all of them. They're right where they're supposed to be, in my opinion. All of them are going to be super hungry in their own way.”

In a number of ways, Wembanyama’s answer — in accordance with his fellow teammates’ various remarks concerning their Finals opponent — spoke to an elevated level of respect, an understanding of what to expect from a matchup standpoint and an appreciation of the individual journeys that led both teams to the mecca of basketball.

San Antonio enters somewhat unfamiliar territory against New York, a stark contrast to Oklahoma City, a team it had faced 12 times by the time Game 7 of the conference finals rolled around. The Spurs faced the Knicks three times this season — twice in the regular season and once in the NBA Cup final, losing on two occasions — but the majority of meetings came with its own caveats. Wembanyama and Julian Champagnie, the unsung hero of Game 7, both came off the bench in mid-December. Devin Vassell and Josh Hart were unavailable for the infamous Christmas Day showdown.

The lone, unadulterated fixture, a 114-89 March blowout win for New York, offered both a blueprint for not only how Wembanyama could be handled, but a reminder of the depth that sustains a Knicks team with a 19-point average margin of victory in postseason play.

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Karl-Anthony Towns spent the bulk of the time deployed on Wembanyama — limiting the Frenchman to 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting and two turnovers — but OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson also spent significant possessions defending Wemby as well. (Robinson, who did not speak to reporters, arrived in San Antonio without a splint on his right hand although his injury status for Game 1 remains unknown, per head coach Mike Brown.) New York’s ability to toggle multiple defenders onto Wembanyama, offering varying levels of physicality, length and smarts, is a luxury Oklahoma City didn’t have despite its depth. Wembanyama finished with 25 points on 17 shots with seven turnovers in that March contest against the Knicks.

The Knicks have the size to impose their will, the chaos factor to cause havoc in the half-court (their playoff opponent turnover rate would rank in the top five during the regular season) and a control of the glass on both ends in a way even the Thunder didn’t. All of that boils down to Wembanyama and the natural tradeoffs associated with his presence.

“There's something you have to give up when you take something away,” Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said concerning how teams have defended Wembanyama over the years. “That's just what happens when you play great players and really good teams. A lot of times those decisions aren't made in a vacuum in terms of not only the player, but then there's a ripple effect typically of what that may lead to for the team, what you're going to open yourself up to, what you're going to be committed to knowing that's OK because we're going to take this away.”

Considering how often the Knicks have sought out downhill drives — the No. 1 playoff team in rim rate — and Wembanyama’s elite paint protection (opponents are converting just 45.2% of shots around the restricted area in his vicinity), the Finals have the potential to be quite the jarring collision course of identity. Because of how much time Wembanyama spent assigned to Josh Hart, a byproduct of trust in cross-matching and order of offensive operations, expect New York to get creative in terms of attack angles — which also could impact rebounding, shot profile, etc.

“He's pretty unique,” Anunoby said Tuesday when asked about Wembanyama. “I mean, there's little things like maybe guarding [Nikola] Jokić or [Kristaps] Porziņģis or Joel [Embiid]. He's different, like you said. He's taller. Just being aware of where he's at all over the floor. He can do everything. Super talented. Just being aware of him at all times, trying to make it as difficult as possible.”

The postseason has been a social experiment on the individuality of Wembanyama, the collective growth of the Spurs’ young core and the juxtaposition of experienced opposition around them. The Finals, the most pressure-filled point of the season, calls for the 22-year-old to take an even greater leap than the ones that have accompanied his ascension. And regardless of the outcome, whether Wembanyama and San Antonio are able to emerge victorious or not, the lessons learned over the next two weeks will dictate the course of action for the next decade.

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