The San Antonio Spurs host the New York Knicks at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, to open the best-of-seven NBA Finals.
This matchup marks a rematch of the 1999 championship series, which San Antonio won four games to one.
San Antonio enters the series as the favorite after compiling a 62-20 regular-season record.
The Spurs advanced by eliminating the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.
New York earned its spot by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games to claim the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Knicks are seeking their third franchise title and trying to break a championship drought that dates back to 1973.
Age Gap Between Starters
A notable age gap exists between the projected starting lineups of the two teams.
Four of the five current Spurs starters were born after the 1999 Finals, giving San Antonio an average starting age of 24 compared to New York's average of 29.4 years.
De'Aaron Fox, 28, is the only San Antonio starter born before that 1999 series.
Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell are 24 and 25 respectively, while Victor Wembanyama is 22 and Stephon Castle is 21.
Conversely, Fox is younger than every starter on the veteran New York roster.
OG Anunoby is 28, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges are 29, Karl-Anthony Towns is 30, and Josh Hart is 31.
The current series represents the first time San Antonio will compete in the Finals without former head coach Gregg Popovich on the sidelines or Tim Duncan on the court.
Popovich coached the team from 1996 to 2025 and currently serves as the president of basketball operations.
The two franchises previously played for a championship during the 2025-2026 season.
New York defeated San Antonio 124-113 in Las Vegas to win the single-elimination NBA Cup title on December 16, 2025.
During that tournament final, Brunson scored 25 points and Anunoby added 28 points to spearhead a 35-19 fourth-quarter comeback for the Knicks.
Wembanyama played just under 25 minutes off the bench for the Spurs, recording 18 points and a minus-18 rating.
