SAN ANTONIO — In his 13 years as Kings owner, Vivek Ranadivé has come nowhere near the NBA Finals. His team has played in just one playoff series in that time.
But Ranadivé’s fingerprints are all over the Knicks–Spurs Finals.
In Dec. 2024, the Kings fired Mike Brown as their head coach amid a 13–18 start. Two months later, they traded De’Aaron Fox to the Spurs after the star guard requested a trade.
Brown’s firing was shocking in NBA circles. Two years after he led the team to its first playoff berth since 2006, he was fired over the phone.
“I’m not surprised that Mike Brown got fired, because I got fired by the same person,” then-Nuggets coach Michael Malone said at the time. “And what really pissed me off about it was the fact that they lost [Thursday] night, fifth game in a row, I believe. Tough loss. … They had practiced this morning. He does his postgame media, and he’s in his car going to the airport to fly to L.A. and they call him on the phone.
“No class, no balls. That’s what I’ll say about that.”
Less than two years later, Brown and Fox are reunited—on opposite sides of a championship series. Brown is the head coach of a Knicks team in its first Finals in 27 years, while Fox was an All-Star for the Spurs this year.
At media day on Tuesday, both Brown and Fox spoke highly of each other.
“Fantastic player, fantastic human being,” Brown said of Fox.
Fox said he can see the parallels between how his former coach runs his teams compared to his current one.
“I think the biggest thing is just how open he is,” Fox told reporters. “That’s from an organizational standpoint. Whenever he came in, the first thing he’s like, well, I want the entire organization to be in, from ownership to front office, coaching staff, players, medical staff, everybody on down. Whenever you have that—and I’ve seen it since I’ve been here—and I’m like, well, that’s probably where he got it from. That’s why he wants to do it that way.”
The Knicks and Kings both dumped their coaches in bold, expensive firings. When Ranadivé fired Brown, he had just given him a three-year extension six months before. The man Brown replaced in New York, Tom Thibodeau, was owed about $30 million from a recent extension when he was fired last summer.
The bet obviously paid off for the Knicks. In Sacramento, the bottom fell out after Brown and Fox left. The Kings were 22–60 this year, one of the worst records in the league. The “light the beam” teams that Brown and Fox led to the playoffs remain the only winning teams of Ranadivé’s tenure as owner.
Jun 2, 2026; San Antonio, TX, USA; A view of the midcourt logo during San Antonio Spurs practice on Media Day for the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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The New York Knicks were among the most heavily-linked to Giannis Antetokounmpo throughout the season. Neither the Greek Freak nor his current team the Milwaukee Bucks confirmed it but rumors lived on.
Shams Charania is among the reporters relentless in reporting about Antetokounmpo’s move away from Wisconsin and in his latest scoop, he revealed that the Knicks’ Giannis trade interests were strong.
“They did make offers, but they felt the Bucks didn’t really want to move Giannis. The Bucks, meanwhile, felt the Knicks weren’t making strong enough offers to entertain trading Giannis,” Charania said during an appearance in Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter’s podcast.
There was strong interest from the Knicks. Will they push through with it? Charania said they will set it aside now.
“At the end of the day, they washed their hands of that situation. Now, they’re in the NBA Finals, and I think we can all safely say the Knicks are not going to be one of the teams Giannis will be on next season. There are going to be other destinations for that.”
The Knicks were able to build a team around Jalen Brunson and they are now in the 2026 NBA Finals to face the San Antonio Spurs. Brunson sacrificed around $110 million during his contract extension signing the Knicks brought in players that complement his skills.
The Knicks’ interest is dead for now but it will probably be only get killed ultimately if they win the NBA title.
2 teams chasing Giannis Antetokounmpo
Antetokounmpo did not play much in this ongoing season. His team failed to make the playoffs. He also had some issues with his team late in the regular season after being barred from returning to play. It looks like the road is ready for him to walk away from the Bucks.
“More and more, with sources saying Miami [Heat] and Portland [Trail Blazers] are already in pursuit, Antetokounmpo’s future is increasingly expected to be resolved over the next few weeks in conjunction with NBA Draft proceedings,” insider Marc Stein wrote his own site Stein Line.
Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez (11), guard Damian Lillard (0) and forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) celebrate after winning the Emirates NBA Cup championship game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
As for the Heat, their biggest asset is the fact that they are in the Eastern Conference. Reports said Giannis will choose to stay in that conference rather than the West where competition is tighter.
San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama speaks like someone who has experienced 40 years of life and that’s what the media and fans love about him. His mentality about being a public figure is changing conversations.
Even Spurs’ former coach and NBA great Gregg Popovich was astounded by the wisdom the French star carries.
“He’s probably the most mature 20-year-old I’ve ever run into,” Popovich said. “He’s just … worldly. He understands priorities. All the hoopla around him doesn’t affect him. He just does his job, works hard.”
He’s got a quote about NBA physicality, about getting dunked on, being emotional for a man, and more.
He got something about inexperience, too.
The Spurs’ main weakness in the playoffs, according to critics, is their youth. This is the first time the Spurs reached the postseason since 2019. Their core is relatively young with the exception of De’Aaron Fox who reached the postseason just twice since entering the league in 2017. Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle are also relatively young.
Their bench got veterans like one-time champion Harrison Barnes, Kelly Olynyk, and Bismack Biyombo but these three guys hardly play.
Wemby somehow turned inexperience to a weapon.
“The lack of experience is a strength of us…because we could do impossible stuff because we don’t know it’s impossible.”
The Spurs are set to face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals after surviving the defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.
Victor Wembanyama with final boss quote
Fans on X were amazed as usual by Wemby’s quote.
“This is not a quote, that’s a final boss cutscene monologue 😭,” one reply from a Hoops Central post reads.
“Holy aura. We are witnessing a goat in real time,” said another.
The naïveté of youth is often a superpower, especially in golf but in all sports. You don’t know what you don’t know and aren’t afraid to fail because you don’t have the scar tissue yet. There’s a freedom that has an unquantifiable value and once it’s gone you can’t get it back. https://t.co/7qViQQbjq8
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama sits at the scorer’s table during Spurs practice on Media Day for the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Draymond Green certainly knows how to make his presence felt.
Last month, while once again filling in for Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA, Green offered several memorable opinions, none more potent than his jab at the final chapter of Inside star Charles Barkley’s playing career. While parrying Barkley’s assertion that the Golden State Warriors’ run was over, Green responded that he and his teammates are just trying to avoid looking like Barkley did while with the Houston Rockets in the late 1990s.
The joke made for some awkward television and sparked a discussion about Green’s disposition as a television commentator and whether he was actually cut out for a career in media.
In response, Barkley said he refused to “punch down” at a lesser player like Green and that Green’s presence in the Inside studio during the NBA postseason was proof that they had been knocked from their throne. Green, for his part, apologized and said he did not intend to “disrespect” Barkley.
For the first time since that encounter, Green is slated to return to the show for Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals from New York City, according to ESPN.
This season marks the first NBA Finals coverage for the legendary Inside the NBA, now that it is licensed by the Worldwide Leader. Welcoming Green in for the occasion is a good sign that his last appearance has not left any scars, but it will be fascinating to see how Green integrates with the cast, assuming he is an extra commentator this time around, rather than a fill-in.
The meteoric rise of Victor Wembanyama coupled with the New York Knicks’ return to the NBA Finals, all packaged inside of a rematch from nearly 30 years ago, has the makings of a fantastic championship series, leaving Green, Barkley and Co. with more than enough basketball storylines to focus on while leaving their confrontation in the past.
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