The NBA Cup championship game may not count in the standings, but neither the New York Knicks nor the San Antonio Spurs are treating it as meaningless.
While recent history shows that winning the NBA Cup does not guarantee postseason success, the mindset inside both locker rooms suggests Tuesday night represents something far more important than a trophy.
“You’re not winning or gaining anything in your record, but you’re going out there and competing,” Jalen Brunson said via Yahoo Sports. “You’re playing for more than just yourself. You’re playing for your team, your organization and your city. There’s a lot at stake besides the record. You go out there and compete no matter what.”
On the other side, the Spurs reflect the opposite philosophy.
“It’s not going to be a super significant step, but still a significant one,” Wembanyama said via Yahoo Sports. “Because it’s a high-stakes game that both teams are going to be very invested in winning. It just shows that we are preparing and we will pass the next step for more significant games in the playoffs.
“As competitors, we want to win every game, and this one brings something new on the table, so we want to win it even more.”
Knicks head coach Mike Brown highlighted what Brunson’s leadership means for a roster built around him.
“Having a guy like Jalen as your leader,” Brown said, “who embraces the work, embraces the process, more importantly embraces the details of what you need to do to go out there and win; at his size and his athleticism, he doesn’t have a lot of room or a lot of margin for error, so he embraces the little things. That feeds off to everybody else.”
Brown also acknowledged the challenge of containing Wembanyama.
“You’re not going to be able to guard a guy like that one-on-one,” Brown said. “You try to put length, size and physicality at the point of attack when it comes to him, but it’s got to be five guys guarding the basketball at all times.”
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