Knicks Win 2026 NBA Championship & End 53-Year Title Drought

The New York Knicks’ 53-year Championship drought has finally come to an end as they’ve defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals after winning Game 5, 94-90.

The NY squad didn’t make it easy on their fans, though. After vowing not to fall behind early as they’ve done in every other game of the series, they found themselves in that situation again, facing a 16-point deficit in the second quarter.

But they chipped it down to 5 at the half and played it close for much of the second half as the Spurs’ lead would still balloon up to 15, before the Knicks truly clamped down in the fourth quarter. But after the greatest comeback —29 points to be exact—in NBA history in Game 4, solidified by an OG Anunoby putback, this mountain didn’t seem too steep to climb.

Off the back of two made free throws from Jalen Brunson, the Knicks finally tied the game at 83, and despite jockeying back and forth, Brunson’s game-high 45-point performance overwhelmed the Spurs and what turned into a free-throw contest toward the end. He was 14-for-27 shooting and hit 13 of his 15 free throws.

His role as the heart of the team was solidified during the Larry O’Brien Trophy ceremony when he was presented with the NBA Finals MVP trophy.

Even he acknowledged his team’s slow start in the series, joking that the “game for us starts 30 minutes later than it’s supposed to.”

He was too stunned to speak when asked about his initial reaction.

“I got no words,” a teary-eyed Brunson told ABC. “Whenever someone counted us out, we found a way to come back and do something about it.”

The Spurs’ leading scorer was fresh-faced Dylan Harper, who poured in 25 points, and Wemby, trailing behind him with 19 points, also managed 14 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Now we wait to see if Knicks fans can control themselves in the next few hours, and at a ticker-tape parade on Thursday, June 18, which Mayor Zohran Mamdani already announced.

See social media’s reaction to the New York Knicks becoming the 2026 NBA Champions below.