The New York Knicks are 2025 NBA Cup champions, and made a case on Tuesday they can accomplish even more this season in the process.<\/p>\n
Despite an 11-of-27 shooting night for Jalen Brunson and an injury that temporarily sidelined Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks erased a double-digit deficit to defeat the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 and win the third NBA Cup title. They join the Los Angeles Lakers (2023) and Milwaukee Bucks (2024) in accomplishing the feat.<\/p>\n
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For a team that hasn\u2019t won the NBA Finals since 1973 and hasn\u2019t reached the Finals at all since 1999, that certainly means something.<\/p>\n
The win will earn every Knicks player $530,933 in prize money, a substantial raise for some of the team\u2019s younger and less-heralded players. The Spurs will have to settle for $212,373 each as runners-up.<\/p>\n
The Knicks\u2019 bench stepped up in the NBA Cup championship<\/p>\n
For a while, San Antonio had the leg up. After knocking off the 24-2 Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals behind a returning Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs had the enormous Frenchman back and playing even more minutes, going from 21 on Saturday to 25 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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They rode that momentum to an 11-point lead late in the third quarter. Seven different Spurs ended up scoring in double digits, while Brunson looked a long way off from his own 41-point semifinal performance. He still made a difference with his playmaking and gravity, but the Knicks needed someone else to step up, especially with Towns still grimacing from an apparent first-half injury.<\/p>\n
Several players did.<\/p>\n
OG Anunoby posted a game-high 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting, plus nine rebounds and three assists. Tyler Kolek and Jordan Clarkson both posted double-digit points off the bench. Mitchell Robinson extended possession after possession with 10 offensive rebounds and 15 total boards.<\/p>\n
And Josh Hart kept doing Josh Hart things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout Tyler Kolek, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Jordan Clarkson, we don\u2019t win this game,\u201d Brunson said after the game, while accepting NBA Cup MVP honors.<\/p>\n
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Say what you will about the Spurs\u2019 inexperience and Wembanyama\u2019s health, it was an impressive win for a Knicks team and another addition to their case as the team to fear in the East. Off nights for Brunson and\/or Towns have frequently spelled doom for a team often lacking in depth over the past few playoffs, but this time it had three bench players step up in a major way.<\/p>\n
With the team sitting in second in the East at 18-7, 2.5 games behind the Detroit Pistons, that\u2019s a meaningful development.<\/p>\n
Notably, none of the above stats will make it to the regular-season numbers. While every other game in the NBA Cup counts toward the regular season, the championship game does not.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how everything went down between the Spurs and the Knicks in the NBA Cup championship game.<\/p>\n
Live coverage is over28 updatesTue, December 16, 2025 at 8:13 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
There was a lot of money on the line tonight in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Every Knicks player will receive $530,933 for their win over the Spurs. That\u2019s up about 3% per player from last season.<\/p>\n
Every Spurs player will take home $212,373 for the team\u2019s runner-up finish.<\/p>\n
The teams that were knocked out in the semifinals took home just more than $106,000, and the quarterfinalists earned just more than $53,000.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 8:11 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Knicks: 124<\/p>\n
OG Anunoby
28 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson
25 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns
16 points, 11 rebounds<\/p>\n
Spurs: 113<\/p>\n
Victor Wembanyama
18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks<\/p>\n
De\u2019Aaron Fox
16 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds<\/p>\n
Stephon Castle
15 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s not an NBA title, the New York Knicks have now won their first trophy since the franchise won the NBA Finals back during the 1972-73 season. That was more than 50 years ago.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 8:06 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks have rallied back from a third quarter deficit to beat the Spurs 124-113 and claim the NBA Cup.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 8:00 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
The Spurs have only hit four shots so far this period, and the Knicks are starting to run away with this thing. OG Anunoby just drained a wide open 3-pointer in the corner, too.<\/p>\n
The Knicks lead 118-110 with 1:44 left.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Nevermind, here comes KAT. He\u2019s checked back into the game with 4:49 left.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:50 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns was just shown sitting at the end of the bench with his warmup shirt on. Still so specifics there, but his night is likely done.<\/p>\n
The Knicks lead 108-102 now with about 6 minutes left.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:35 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
The Knicks just pulled out an 8-0 run in about 90 seconds \u2014 thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Jordan Clarkson \u2014 to suddenly take the lead. This one isn\u2019t over yet.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Victor Wembanyama drained two 3-pointers there and 12 points in the third to keep the Spurs in the lead. He had a huge oop off a big save from Stephon Castle late in the period, too.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got 12 minutes left to crown an NBA Cup winner.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:24 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Karl-Anthony Towns just limped off the court after a bucket here in the third quarter, and trainers are working on his leg apparently. Specifics aren\u2019t known, but not a great sign for the Knicks star.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:20 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
This looked incredibly easy for Victor Wembanyama\u2026<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:19 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a four-point play, thanks to a huge Dylan Harper 3-pointer and a free throw from Stephon Castle \u2014 who was drilled away from the ball \u2014 and the Spurs are suddenly up by 11. They are in full control of this one here in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 7:04 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an 8-2 run to open the second half for the Spurs, capped by an easy lob to Luke Kornet down low. San Antonio is up by eight.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:47 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Victor Wembanyama came so close to what would have been a truly wild dunk in the first half.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:46 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Spurs: 61
Devin Vassell | 12 points (4-9 FG), 2 rebounds
Luke Kornet | 10 points, 5 rebounds
De\u2019Aaron Fox | 9 points, 8 assists
Victor Wembanyama | 4 points, 4 rebounds<\/p>\n
Knicks: 59
OG Anunoby | 20 points (8-10 FG), 3 assists
Jalen Brunson | 15 points (6-15 FG), 4 assists
Karl-Anthony Towns | 9 points, 7 rebounds<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:44 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
OG Anunoby threw down back-to-back dunks in the final minute there to tie the game back up after the Spurs\u2019 seven-point lead, including one on a huge fast break off a bad De\u2019Aaron Fox turnover, but a Fox jumper put San Antonio back in the lead entering the locker room.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:32 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Stephon Castle found Devin Vassell flying through the lane, and he immediately rose up and threw down a two-handed slam with OG Anunoby underneath him.<\/p>\n
Castle completed a fast-break layup after a Victor Wembanyama steal on the next possession, too, to push the Spurs\u2019 lead to seven now midway through the second quarter. This team is quick, and the Knicks appear to be struggling to keep up.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:21 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
The Spurs drained a trio of 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the second quarter, along with a Luke Kornet tip-in, to immediately take control of the game.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re up 46-40 now with about seven minutes left in the first half. They\u2019ve missed their last six shots, too, before Mike Brown opted to call a timeout.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:09 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
The Spurs closed the first quarter on a quick 7-2 burst to take the lead again. OG Anunoby leads all scorers with 10 points.<\/p>\n
So far, we\u2019ve got a game working in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Tue, December 16, 2025 at 6:02 PM PST<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
This pass from KAT was ridiculous. The Spurs had him doubled perfectly on the wing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks are 2025 NBA Cup champions, and made a case on Tuesday they can accomplish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6392,31021,42891,42892,41987,28176,6393,6397,42890,3080,6537,41988,6382,82,84,83,1066,4847,42889,509],"class_list":["post-91127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-jordan-clarkson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-knicks","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-og-anunoby","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-the-spurs","tag-tyler-kolek","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}