It's Wemby's league

SA may not win the title this year but he is the most dominant single player in the game today.... and everyone knows it.

What I don't get is if you're a FA, and winning is important, why bother to even look at a Western Conf team? That's an OKC/SA battle for the next half decade at a minimum.

OKC is fully built and has more talent on their roster than any other team in the west/league AND they also own a ridiculous number of 1st Rd draft picks so they can fill holes with young players on controllable contracts.

SA's starting 5 averages 22yrs old and they're already in the conf finals.

About the only iceberg on the horizon is the new Salary Cap/Tax issue which makes having a stacked roster with several "max" players almost financially impossible. I say almost because if an owner is willing to eat the tax bill.....

BTW, as a Knick fan who has waited their entire life for a NBA championship, I already made my peace with getting smoked by whoever comes out of the West. I watched SA the other night and they've legitimately got 4 NBA guards in their backcourt!

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I've ever seen. As you mentioned, the juicy subplots are legion:

- a playoff matchup between teams that each won at least 60 games (first time that has happened since the Jordan Bulls era)
- two teams that each had a regular-season point differential of at least 8 points (first time in forever)
- two of the youngest teams in the league
- The Spurs went 4-1 against OKC in the regular season (now it's 5-1, of course).
- OKC was 8-0 in the playoffs. The Spurs entered 8-3, but two of the losses were with Wemby out.
- Wemby and Holmgren have a rivalry that goes back to when both were teenagers playing in an international tournament.
- SGA was awarded the MVP trophy before the game. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, but Wemby clearly played like he didn't deserve it.

It really does feel like a throwback to the Celtics-Lakers rivalry of the 80s, but of course that was East vs. West whereas this is two West teams that will render the East irrelevant for at least the next five years.

I'm excited to watch how the series progresses, but also to see how both teams manage their roster construction over the next few years. There's a school of thought that OKC will lose only Dort from its current rotation while adding two top-17 picks (including Yaxel Lendeborg in many mock drafts) and also No. 15 pick Thomas Sorber from the 2025 draft (out all year with an injury). And yet, because of Wemby's brilliance, it's also possible that this emerging dynasty will be stopped at only one title.

the Polo Grounds

It was legitimately one of the best playoff games

Get your Jordan vs Lebron arguments in soon.