Love it or hate, the NBA Cup is here to stay. And years from now, we’re going to look at it differently.

The New York Knicks became the latest team win the NBA Cup, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s the first time in 52 years that the Knicks have ever won anything in the NBA. The last time New Yorkers celebrated a professional basketball title, Knicks superfan Spike Lee was only 16 years old.

Lee, now 68, witnessed his beloved Knicks beat Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs in Las Vegas. Wembanyama, 21, wasn’t even born yet the last time the Knicks reached a championship game. It was 1999 and the grit-and-grind Knicks were coached by Jeff Van Gundy and spearheaded by Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks, and Anthony Mason.

Now, the Knicks can finally hang a banner at Madison Square Garden next to NBA titles won in 1970 and 1973 thanks to a new group of gritty guys, headed by Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

“This is on the road to an NBA championship,” Lee said on “NBA Nightcap” on Amazon Prime. It’s a great day. It’s not done yet. It’s a tough league. It’s gonna be a fight.”

Brunson put on an MVP performance in Vegas, scoring 40 points in the semifinal win over the Orlando Magic and 25 points in the championship game against the Spurs.

The former Villanova standout is playing at an elite level. New York Knicks coach Mike Brown hammered home a specific point he’s been making in recent weeks — that Brunson, even this early in the season, belongs in the regular-season MVP conversation.

“He makes the game easier for everybody,” Brown said. “That’s what MVPs are supposed to do, and he definitely did that tonight. … At the end of the day, he carries you home. It’s beautiful to be able to see him do what he’s more than capable of doing on a national stage like this, in an environment like this. Hopefully you guys as media and the fans out there can continue talking about him as an MVP of this league because that’s exactly what he is.”

If Brunson keeps playing this way, the MVP case is going to get even more compelling.

He was the NBA’s clutch player of the year last season, so it’s not like he’s been ignored by voters. Brown just wants him to be in the hunt for a bigger trophy.

“You see a lot of other great candidates that are well-deserving but I don’t ever hear Jalen’s name,” Brown said. “When you’re first or second in either conference, and you’re putting up the numbers that he’s putting up, his name’s got to be one of the first names coming out of somebody’s mouth.”

For the past three years since its inception, the NBA Cup has seen its share of detractors. One of the loudest critics is The Athletic’s John Hollinger, who suggested that the in-season tournament forced players to play more games leading to potential injuries.

Critics also say the whole thing is a gimmick, from the outrageously loud and colorful courts to the somewhat confusing group tiebreakers.

Say what you want about the NBA Cup, at least the NBA is making an effort to make waves in the fall season and put a small dent on the NFL’s stranglehold on viewership.

It appears to be working. The NBA has seen a surge in fan interest in the early portion of the 2025-26 season, with a 92% bump in viewership for nationally televised games. Thanks to new broadcast partners NBC and Amazon Prime, joining ABC/ESPN, the league is enjoying its best viewership numbers in 15 years.

But the biggest win so far is the fact that the players are embracing the NBA Cup. They competed hard each and every night the Cup games were held, injecting a playoff-type atmosphere that has resulted in some fantastic games.

“This is not a typical regular-season game,” Wembanyama said after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals. “We knew if that if we lose, we’re out. And you know, some people are built for these moments. Some aren’t. But we definitely are.”

The NBA Cup games in Las Vegas have replaced the league’s Christmas Day lineup as the Association’s marquee event of the fall. It hasn’t overtaken the NFL yet, but in three short years it has generated a lot of buzz and made the early portion of the season far more interesting.

The NBA Cup final didn’t count in the standings, and the stats won’t be added to any official totals. A trophy was at stake and $533,000 cash bonus for the winning team.

It was the third different finals matchup in the NBA Cup — which was initially referred to as the In-Season Tournament. During its inception, the L.A. Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers. In the second year, Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Milwaukee Bucks to a convincing victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Add the New York Knicks to the champions list.

“The Cup is special. I think you saw tonight, here in Vegas the semifinals and finals, it brought out the best in all the teams,” Knicks center Towns said while proudly wearing a championship T-shirt.

“For us to be in a position to say that we won and we’re the champions, and to have this dope-ass shirt on with the Knicks saying as champions is humbling and an honor.”

Reggie Miller played his entire 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. (GETTY IMAGES)

Basketball is king in the state of Indiana and Reggie Miller is the undisputed prince of the Pacers.

Very few basketball studs play their entire careers with one team, and Miller was blessed to play his entire 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. He was the 11th overall pick in the 1987 draft, but the selection was greeted with some pessimism because Pacers fans wanted Indiana schoolboy legend and Indiana University All-American Steve Alford. But it didn’t take long before Miller, who grew up in Riverside, Calif., and attended UCLA, won over the hearts of Indiana fanatics.

Miller is one of the 12 newest members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and to honor his induction into basketball royalty in 2012, OneManFastbreak.net ranks his five greatest moments:

5-MILLER TIME IN OVERTIME

Even though he was approaching the twilight of his career, Miller proved he could still raise his game in the biggest of stages during the 2002 NBA playoffs. The No. 8-seeded Pacers stretched the top-seeded Nets to five games in the first round, and Miller was at his absolute best in Game 5. He sent the game into overtime with an improbable turnaround bank shot from behind the 3-point line and sent the game into a second overtime with a driving dunk (and Miller rarely drove to the basket) past Kerry Kittles. The Nets eventually won the game and advanced to the NBA Finals, but Miller carved out another special playoff performance.

4-PUSHES JORDAN, BULLS TO THE LIMIT

Reggie Miller gets away with a shove on Michael Jordan in the 1998 Eastern Conference playoffs.

Reggie made 2,500 threes throughout his illustrious career, but none bigger than the one he hit in Game 4 of the 1998 playoffs against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The play began with Miller running Ron Harper through a screen. Once he got free at the top of the key he saw Jordan and brushed him off with an obvious shove. Miller admitted it was an offensive foul, and he was just as surprised a foul wasn’t called. That non-call greatly benefited the Pacers as Miller got a clean look and buried a clutch game-winning 3-pointer. The Pacers extended the Bulls to the fullest, only to lose in seven games. However, Jordan certainly got a little dose of his own medicine in the hard-fought series.

3-DROPS 57 POINTS VS. HORNETS

The highest scoring game of Miller’s NBA career occurred on Nov. 28, 1982, when he dropped 57 points on the Charlotte Hornets to set the Pacers’ all-time franchise record. Reggie put on a show at Charlotte Coliseum, abusing Hornets guard Dell Curry for most of the night. Pacers announcer described the scoring spree as a volcanic eruption. Miller exploded for 23 points in the third quarter and knocked down 21 consecutive free throws for the game.

2-EIGHT POINTS IN 8.9 SECONDS

Reggie Miller drives on his nemesis, Knicks guard John Starks in the 1995 NBA playoffs.

Miller enjoyed playing in New York’s Madison Square Garden and absolutely loved tormenting the Knicks. His stunning performance in Game 1 Eastern Conference semifinals in which he scored eight points in 8.9 seconds only heightened New York’s genuine disdain for him. After hitting a three with 13 seconds left to cut the N.Y. Lead to three, the Knicks had trouble inbounding the ball and the ball found Miller in the corner after getting away with shoving Greg Anthony to the ground. Miller stepped back and buried another three to tie the game. The Knicks had a chance to regain the lead but John Starks, Miller’s nemesis, missed two free throws and then Patrick Ewing missed a contested 12-footer in the paint. After grabbing the rebound, Miller was fouled and knocked down two free throws to complete an improbable Pacers comeback.

1-SHUT UP, SPIKE!

Miller described Indiana’s Game 5 win against the Knicks in the 1994 East finals a watershed moment for the Pacers franchise. The Knicks were considered the bullies of the East and heir to the throne vacated by the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan retired. The Knicks-Pacers series was a classic major-market team versus small-market squad. Miller had had enough of Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, and the rest of Knicks, who had eliminated the Pacers in the previous two seasons. So Miller took it upon himself to lift an entire franchise with one incredible quarter. He scored 25 points in the fourth, knocking down three after three right in the face of his nemesis John Starks and Hubert Davis. Miller, who finished with 39 points, was feeling so good he got into a running smack-talk with longtime Knicks fan Spike Lee, who was sitting courtside. The chatter turned into a huge spectacle when Miller kept staring down Lee with each cold-blooded 3-point shot. And when Miller swished a trey from near midcourt he looked at Lee’s direction, with his arms cocked back, and uttered a few expletives (if you can read lips he said “Shut the f*** up, b***h!”) while grabbing his throat to signify the choke sign. Lee claims Miller also grabbed something else besides his throat but it wasn’t caught on video. Even though the Pacers lost the series, the game turned into one the most memorable moments in NBA playoff history and it catapulted Miller from being Cheryl Miller’s younger brother to a bonafide superstar and one of basketball greatest villains.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.