Biggest story of the week

NBA — New York vs. San Antonio for the Chip
The San Antonio Spurs punched their ticket to the NBA Finals after beating OKC 111-103 in Game 7 this past Saturday to send the defending champs home. They will face the New York Knicks, who punched their ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999 after sweeping the Cavaliers with a 130-93 Monday night close-out. Not only will we see a new champion crowned for the 8th straight season, but this is a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals in which the Spurs beat the Knicks 4-1 — will history repeat itself?

CBB — The Withdrawal Wave
The college hoops landscape just got 10 times more interesting — after the May 27th deadline, a wave of names pulled out of the draft and reset rosters overnight. The biggest domino still hanging: Milan Momcilovic, coming off the greatest 3-point shooting season in CBB history (48.7% on 7.5 3PA), pulled out with $5-7M in NIL waiting at Kentucky, Louisville, St. John's, or Arizona. Where he lands could drastically tip the playing field next season.

In today’s issue:

👀 The Read — What’s next for Cleveland?

🔥 Clutch or Cap — New York vs. San Antonio Finals Predictions

🍿 Games of the Week — Knicks vs. Spurs (+ the pick)

What’s next for Cleveland?

Spurs
San Antonio beat OKC back-to-back, now marking the first time OKC has lost consecutively in the past two postseasons (8-1). The Spurs looked dominant on both sides while showing their depth across the board, getting huge contributions from guys like De’Aaron Fox (15 PTS), who struggled in Games 5 & 6, Julian Champagnie, who hit six threes in Game 7, and Dylan Harper has just been spectacular all playoffs.

Knicks
New York brings the No. 1 net rating this postseason after steamrolling the entire Eastern Conference while barely breaking a sweat. They also hold the No. 1 offensive and defensive rating this postseason and have only lost two games this entire playoffs to the Atlanta Hawks.

Cavaliers
Swept in the ECF. Atkinson re-signed (per Shams), Harden plans to return (per Spears), but the Cavs project as a top-3 over-cap team in 2026-27 — meaning Mobley or Allen has to go to fix a backcourt defense that just got hunted. Now GM Mike Gansey is gone — officially taking the President of Basketball Ops role with the 76ers — and Cleveland's hoping to run back a flawed roster without the guy who helped build it.

North Carolina
With the window to go pro or return to college closed following May 27th, Matt Able, a highly touted sophomore, decided to return to UNC. He joins a solid group of guards (Terrence Brown, Neoklis Avdalas) paired with a frontcourt starring returning forward Jarin Stevenson and newly acquired 7-foot shot-blocking big man from FC Barcelona, Sayon Keita. But will it be enough?

Vanderbilt
Tyler Tanner’s return headlines a roster Mark Byington just rebuilt for size and scoring depth. He paired Tanner with Ace Glass (16.4 PPG, 45.5 FG% at Washington State) to replace Duke Miles, added a 7-foot center in Bangot Dak, and pulled in a top-20 transfer class plus three 4-star freshmen. Byington is 47-22 through two seasons — the first head coach in Vanderbilt history with back-to-back 20-win starts. Needless to say, the Commodores aren’t sneaking up on anyone next year.

Arkansas
Darius Acuff (23.5 PPG) and Meleek Thomas (15.6) are both gone — that’s 39 combined points Cal has to replace, and his answer is the No. 2 recruit in the country. Jordan Smith Jr. is a McDonald’s All-American with a 6’9” wingspan, averaged 20-8-4 on the EYBL circuit, and plays defense like it’s personal — but scouts flag his three-point shot (26% in EYBL) as the real question mark for his college transition. Billy Richmond returns to anchor the wing (11.2 PPG, SEC All-Defensive Team, 56% FG), transfer guard Jeremiah Wilkinson adds backcourt experience, and 5-star forwards Andrews and Toure round out a No. 2 recruiting class. Cal's rolling with freshmen again — but how far they go depends on how far Jordan Smith Jr. can carry this team.

The Debates Driving Basketball

The blueprint for beating the Spurs is clear — and the Knicks wrote it three times this season, including the NBA Cup Finals in December, making this the first time in history the NBA Finals features a rematch of the NBA Cup championship game. New York won 124-113 in that Cup Final behind a fully loaded lineup: Brunson with 25, OG with 28, Towns with 16 and 11 boards, Hart, Bridges, and Clarkson all contributing double figures — and that was without Alvarado and Shamet, both of whom joined before the trade deadline. The sample size is real, the roster is deeper now, and the formula is simple, crash the glass and make the Spurs live and die by the three-ball.

For San Antonio — more specifically Wemby — the Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein era is over — Karl-Anthony Towns is the man guarding Wemby now, and he averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists across three games against the Spurs this season, shooting above 50% from the field each time. Towns’ improved lateral quickness forces Wemby to work for everything he gets, and unlike OKC’s bigs, Towns won’t let him camp in the paint, throw up garbage, and grab his own rebound — that move doesn’t work when there’s a seven-footer with length and timing waiting for him. The Knicks also own the glass — New York outrebounded San Antonio 59-42 in the Cup Finals and 54-41 in March — and when the Spurs can’t rebound and can’t get to the rim, they become entirely dependent on the three-ball, which can be troublesome, like when they went 9-for-34 in their most lopsided loss this season.

The Knicks have one of the best closer in basketball, the deepest supporting cast in the playoffs, the No. 1 net rating, and a frontcourt built specifically for this matchup. Brunson leads all players in postseason scoring since 2022-23 and gets better when the stakes get higher. San Antonio is balling and Wemby is generational, but this Knicks team is on another level right now — and I expect that to continue. Knicks in 7.

🔥 Clutch or Cap 🧢?
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Let’s call it what it is — ludicrous. Will Wade has built college basketball’s first true pro-style roster, signing former NBA draft picks and international pros including 25-year-old Israeli guard Yam Madar (reportedly at $5M), former St. John’s star RJ Luis Jr. straight off two-way deals with the Jazz and Celtics, and 2025 Cavaliers draft pick Saliou Niang — with an average age of 23.5, older than the Spurs’ starting five.

No freshmen. Almost no traditional recruits. This is the same Will Wade who jumped NC State after one season and was fired by LSU in 2022 for recruiting violations — and he’s back doing it louder than ever. Other coaches are furious, with one anonymous SEC coach saying plainly: “What you’re doing is f—ing it up for everyone else.” Wade’s response at the SEC spring meetings? “We feel very comfortable in our position” — with a smile.

The NCAA released new eligibility guidelines this month that would make more than half of his recruited players ineligible for 2026-27. The Division I Cabinet votes in June to formalize the rules — if they hold, half his roster can’t take the floor; if they don’t, every coach in the country copies the blueprint next cycle. Wade sparked a movement that will change the entire landscape of college sports.

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New York’s Historic Rest Advantage

NEW YORK KNICKS
First team in NBA history to face three opponents coming off a Game 7 in the same postseason
(+12 days rest — biggest rest advantage ever entering a Finals)

ALEX CARUSO
Most 3-pointers made off the bench in a conference finals series — ever
(20 threes in the WCF — a new NBA postseason record)

JULIAN CHAMPAGNI
3rd player in NBA history with 6+ threes in a Conference Finals Game 7 — joining Steph Curry and Klay Thompson
(20 PTS, 6 REB, 6 3PM in the WCF — both legends did it against OKC in 2016)

DARIUS ACUFF JR.
Only the 2nd freshman this century in a Power 5 conference to average 23+ PPG and 6+ APG — joining Trae Young
(23.5 PPG, 6.4 APG, Bob Cousy Award winner — projected top-5 pick)

SAYON KEITA
Averaged 3.2 blocks per game at the NBPA Top 100 Camp — earning Defensive MVP against the top US high schoolers
(projected 2027 NBA lottery pick)

MILAN MOMCILOVIC
First player in men's college basketball history to lead the nation in both 3-point percentage AND 3-point makes in the same season
(48.7% on 136 makes)

The Biggest Headlines in Basketball

🏆 All-NBA Teams Drop. SGA headlined First Team alongside Jokic, Wemby, and Cade Cunningham, after taking home back-to-back MVP and Clutch Player of the Year. On the Second Team, Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson both earned nods. Wemby led the defensive honors as DPOY, with Kawhi Leonard earning First Team All-Defense. Mazzulla — who called it “a stupid award” — won Coach of the Year.

💎 The Diamond Cup Is Coming. College basketball’s next big regular-season event is in the works — an eight-team blue blood tournament debuting in 2027-28, with Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, UConn, and Michigan among the schools in deep talks, each earning $2.25M per school in Year 1. Think of it as college hoops’ answer to the Champions League group stage, played at neutral sites with the sport’s biggest programs — and if it lands, November will never look the same.

🪑 Front Office Moves. The Hawks promoted Onsi Saleh to President of Basketball Ops after Philly tried (and was denied) permission to interview him. Jamahl Mosley landed the Pelicans head job, and now the Magic have their guy too — hiring Spurs associate coach Sean Sweeney, the defensive architect who helped San Antonio jump from 25th to 3rd in defensive efficiency this season.

🎱 The NBA Kills Tanking. The league passed sweeping new draft lottery reforms — expanding from 14 to 16 teams, penalizing the bottom 3 with fewer lottery balls (while teams 4th-10th get flat equal odds), and banning any team from winning the No. 1 pick in back-to-back years or landing three consecutive top-5 picks. Starting in 2027, the actual lottery drawing also goes live on TV.

The Matchups That Matter

Storyline: This is a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals — the last time these franchises met on basketball's biggest stage. Tim Duncan won MVP as the Spurs beat New York 4-1. Now 27 years later, a new generation gets its shot at redemption.

Numbers to Know:

Matchup: New York's complete two-way dominance vs. San Antonio's youth, led by Wemby.

🎯 Hoopvalor Pick: Knicks ML (+164) Game 1

Moments, Memes, and Culture

So many great moments from Game 7, but Kornet’s block was by far one of the most impactful moments of the entire game:

That’s Volume 20.
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Catch you courtside. 🏀
— Hoopvalor