More than seven months after the 2025-26 NBA season began, it all comes down to this. 28 teams are now at home, and only the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs remain. It’s a rematch of the Emirates NBA Cup final and, perhaps, a coronation of the league’s future, as the Spurs have the man widely anointed as the next face of the league, Victor Wembanyama.
Game 1 of these NBA Finals will tip off at 8:40 p.m. ET tonight at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. Only one player is on the injury report for either team, as New York’s backup center, Mitchell Robinson, suffered a fractured pinky and underwent surgery in between the Eastern Conference Finals and the start of this series. He’s questionable.
The Spurs are 4.5-point favorites at DraftKings Sportsbook (-185 on the Moneyline), with the point total set to 218.5. The Knicks are +154 on the Moneyline.
For the playoffs, DraftKings is running a Same-Game Parlay Profit Boost on SGP’s of at least three legs with at least +300 odds (maximum wager rules apply). Below, I’ve laid out my favorite qualifying SGP from tonight’s highly-anticipated contest for you to consider.
Best Same Game Parlay for Knicks at Spurs Game 1
New York Knicks Moneyline
In large part, this depends on Robinson, as he’s at least somewhat capable of handling Wembanyama one-on-one, as well as challenging him on the offensive glass. Robinson’s being able to stay home on the gargantuan Frenchman would free up OG Anunoby to deal with either De’Aaron Fox or Stephon Castle, and during the teams’ two regular season matchups, he limited them to a combined six points on two-for-nine shooting. If New York comes out how it did against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, when it was similarly well-rested, Wembanyama and Fox are too clutch down the stretch for it to come back. However, it’s just hard to pick against the Knicks right now, given that they’ve had literally the best playoff run in NBA history to this point. There are few players in the league more dangerous than Jalen Brunson with a chip on his shoulder.
Jalen Brunson 25+ Points
If New York ends up winning this game, it’ll likely require a big performance from Brunson, who had 25 points in the NBA Cup final, 29 points in San Antonio’s win on New Year’s Eve, and 24 points in the Knicks’ upset in early March. Of course, Castle is one of the fiercest perimeter defenders in the league, and he’s had a tremendous playoff run, limiting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to 20-for-44 shooting and Julius Randle to eight-for-25 shooting. He also held Brunson to zero-for-four shooting during the regular season. Still, Brunson is Brunson; Dyson Daniels, VJ Edgecombe, and Dean Wade all had success against him during the regular season and failed to limit him at all during the playoffs. The Spurs’ strategy is to force opponents into short midrange jumpers and floaters — they’ve given up the most shots per game between eight and 16 feet away from the basket these playoffs — and Brunson has been among the league’s most active and efficient in that zone.
Victor Wembanyama 4+ Blocks
Wembanyama came out with a bang in Game 1 of San Antonio’s second round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, posting a playoff record 12 blocks in his team’s defeat. While that was only one of five games these playoffs in which he’s reached the four-block threshold, he did get there in 27 of his 64 regular season games, including in his most recent contest against New York (the only one in which he wasn’t on a minutes restriction and didn’t leave early with an injury). Wembanyama won’t respect Josh Hart’s jumper, so until Hart starts hitting them, the Knicks won’t be capable of dragging him away from the paint on defense, and they’ve averaged the second-most attempts per game within five feet so far. Perhaps New York will eventually lean on its shooting instead of challenging the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, but why would it turn away from a strategy that has allowed it to enjoy the most dominant run in league history?
Dylan Harper 5+ Rebounds
Harper will come off the bench behind Fox and Castle, but it’s hard to overstate his importance to the team. He was arguably the Spurs’ second-most valuable player in the Western Conference Finals, posting a 24-point, 11-board masterpiece in Game 1 with Fox sidelined and adding 12 points and seven rebounds in Game 7 off the bench. All in all, he had at least five boards in five of the seven games against the Thunder, and he should continue to play a major role, given that he has the team’s second-best on-off plus/minus these playoffs and had the best regular season net rating of any player to partner with Wembanyama for more than 500 minutes. The Knicks will present a significantly bigger rebounding challenge, given that they’ve been by far the best rebounding team these playoffs, but Harper’s voracity in crashing the offensive glass should be sustainable. His average rebound in the conference finals came closer to the basket than either Castle or Fox, suggesting that his impressive rebounding numbers are more a function of positioning than fortune.
