Knicks Players Have Harsh Message for Victor Wembanyana After NBA Title Win
The New York Knicks trounced the San Antonio Spurs to win the 2026 NBA Finals in five games - claiming their first championship since 1973.
The Knicks won 15 of their last 16 games, including a historically dominant 13-game winning streak, and became the first team since 1971 to win the NBA Finals after trailing by 10-plus points in every game of the series, per the NBA. All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson cemented himself as an all-time playoff performer, and the Knicks were the ultimate team.
Nobody was stopping these Knicks from capturing the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, not even 7-foot-4 Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama. And the Knicks made sure he knew that after closing the Spurs out in Game 5 on Saturday night.
Video began circulating of the Knicks’ team party from Sunday night, in which it appears NBA Finals MVP and all-around King of New York Jalen Brunson proposes a toast by saying, “[Expletive] Wemby!” Brunson is facing away from the camera, so I can’t definitively say Brunson said it - though it looks 99% certain. Regardless of who started it, everyone quickly repeated it.
The Spurs only Finals win came in Game 3. Victor Wembanyama went off for 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists, three blocks, and two steals. In the first quarter, Wembanyama shoved Brunson in the back of his head, which went uncalled on the floor. (The NBA later declined to retroactively assess a flagrant foul.)
As such, during Game 3, Madison Square Garden broke out in “[Expletive] you, Wemby” chants, and Wembanyama was asked about whether he accepted being “New York’s newest villain” afterward.
“I guess,” Wembanyama said. “I’m nowhere near Trae Young level, though.”
Respectfully, Wembanyama is wrong. New York’s hatred for him dates back to his “ethical basketball” comments around the NBA Cup in December. The Knicks beat the Spurs for that title, too. It was intensified after the Brunson shove and, really, with everything Wemby did in the Finals. The only way he would have been a bigger villain in New York is if the Spurs overcame a 3-1 deficit to rob the Knicks of the title.
As it is, the Knicks will roll down the Canyon of Heroes in Manhattan on Thursday, while Wembanyama and the Spurs suffer through a summer of regret.
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 4:05 PM.