The New York Knicks arrive at the NBA Finals carrying a piece of history that has ended every similar championship run before it. Now they are trying to become the first team in the modern era to prove that history wrong.
Since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, six teams have reached the Finals after entering the playoffs as massive longshots of +2000 or longer. Every one of them came up short, leaving the Knicks one victory parade away from ending a streak of futility nearly 50 years in the making.
New York entered this postseason at +2200 odds, the seventh franchise since that merger to reach the Finals after opening at +2000 or worse, according to New York Post reporter Evan Abrams. The previous six clubs were the 1976 Phoenix Suns, the 1981 Houston Rockets, the 1999 Knicks, the 2020 and 2023 Miami Heat, and last year’s Indiana Pacers, who fell short after two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in Game 7 against Oklahoma City.
GettyOKLAHOMA CITY, Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs poses a significant hurdle for the Knicks to overcome.
Knicks Odds Entering the 2026 NBA Finals
New York opens Game 1 in San Antonio as a 4.5-point road underdog, with series lines sitting at Knicks +170 and Spurs -205, according to odds cited by The Athletic.
San Antonio is carrying its own longshot story into this series. The Spurs entered the 2025-26 season at +6500 to win the championship. A title would make them the biggest preseason longshot in Finals history to finish the job, eclipsing the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors, who opened that year at +3500.
Teams that open the Finals at -210 or better have gone 29-3 since 1990. Bettors are not paying attention to that number. At FanDuel, 65 percent of the handle on the series is riding New York, making the Knicks the book’s most-bet team to win the championship. DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told The Athletic it could be one of the most heavily-bet Finals ever.
The Knicks are just the fourth team since 1990 to reach the Finals as underdogs after being favored through all three earlier rounds. The previous three teams in that position â the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2012 Miami Heat and the 2008 Boston Celtics â all won the championship.
GettyWhether center Mitchell Robinson can get healthy is the key question for the Knicks in their quest to overcome the odds.
Knicks’ Playoff Run and the Victor Wembanyama Challenge
New York arrives carrying the most dominant sustained run in league history. After falling behind 2-1 to Atlanta in the first round, the Knicks have won 11 straight, sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers. In that span, New York posted a point differential of +262, the largest over any 11-game window, regular season or postseason, in NBA history, according to a Yahoo Sports report.
Jalen Brunson drives the offense. Karl-Anthony Towns has set career postseason highs in assists while playing the best defense of his career. OG Anunoby is healthy after a hamstring issue. Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart have delivered at every critical moment of the run.
The obstacle is 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama, 22, who piloted San Antonio to a 62-20 regular season and a Game 7 win over the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, 111-103, in the Western Conference Finals. Wembanyama enters at -190 to win Finals MVP, an odds-on designation that has accompanied series wins in five of the last six Finals, according to The Athletic.
Game 1 tips off Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC from the Frost Bank Center.
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