This Wemby vs. Knicks Finals is exactly what the NBA needs

It's been a rough year for the NBA, with complaints about tanking, load management, flopping and commissioner Adam Silver's soft leadership hijacking the discourse throughout the regular season and even much of the playoffs. But, just in the nick (Knick?) of time comes a fascinating Finals matchup between one of the league's marquee teams and its brightest new star to quiet the critics (for now) and remind everyone that, yes, basketball is still fun.

Here's a primer for the highly anticipated championship series between the long-suffering New York Knicks and Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs, which tips off tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Even before he joined the NBA as the heavily hyped No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, a lot of basketball fans suspected that the impossibly skilled French giant would take over the league one day. But few expected it to happen this quickly.

Wembanyama was a star upon arrival, winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2024 after averaging more than 21 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks per game. But the Spurs went 22-60 and finished 14th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. The following year, with No. 4 overall pick Stephon Castle giving San Antonio back-to-back ROYs, the Spurs improved to 34-48 but still finished 13th in the West and missed the playoffs again as Wembanyama's season was cut short by a serious blood clot in his right shoulder.

Luckily, Wemby made a full recovery and powered an astonishing ascent this season by the young Spurs, who not only won the Southwest Division for the first time since 2017 (the year after the great Tim Duncan retired) but finished second in the entire league with a 62-20 record. The big guy also took his own game to a new level, averaging