2025-26 NBA In-Season Tournament (NBA Cup)

Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena)

Basketball: Competitions ▾

2025-26 NBA Cup result: New York Knicks def. San Antonio Spurs, 124-113, at Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena).

Sourcing caveat: An initial AI-summarized fetch of the Wikipedia article reported the final score as Knicks 117, Spurs 89, which conflicts with every other source checked. Three independent contemporary game recaps (NBC New York, CBS Sports, and ESPN reporting) agree the correct score was Knicks 124, Spurs 113; that is the score recorded here. Sources also differ by one calendar day on the game date (December 16 vs. 17, 2025), likely reflecting local-time-vs-UTC publication timestamps rather than a substantive disagreement. Note also: individual quarter-by-quarter scores for the final differ slightly between secondary AI-summarized recaps (e.g., 25-20 vs. 30-28/30-29 for Q1); the overall shape of the game — Spurs leading through three quarters, Knicks rallying in the fourth — is consistently corroborated, so only that qualitative flow is asserted above rather than disputed exact quarter scores. Victor Wembanyama's final-game point total, initially reported ambiguously across summarized sources as either 17 or 18, was confirmed as 18 (plus 6 rebounds and 2 blocks, coming off the bench) via a direct box-score check against Basketball-Reference and a second independent source during the 3 Sep 2026 individual-game build.

Result

	Team	Final
Champion	New York Knicks	124-113
Runner-up	San Antonio Spurs

Box score

New York Knicks starters
Player	PTS	REB	AST
Jalen Brunson	25	4	8
OG Anunoby	28	9	3
Karl-Anthony Towns	16	11	1
Mikal Bridges	11	5	5
Josh Hart	11	8	3

Bench (10+ points): Jordan Clarkson (15), Tyler Kolek (14)

San Antonio Spurs starters
Player	PTS	REB	AST
De'Aaron Fox	16	2	9
Stephon Castle	15	7	12
Luke Kornet	14	6	1
Devin Vassell	12	5	3
Harrison Barnes	11	3	2

Bench (10+ points): Dylan Harper (21), Victor Wembanyama (18)

Tournament MVP

Jalen Brunson

Final context

The 2025 Emirates NBA Cup was won by the New York Knicks, who rallied past the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 in the championship game, played December 16, 2025, at T-Mobile Arena. Both finalists won their four-team groups at 3-1 to clinch automatic knockout berths — New York out of East Group C (ahead of wild-card qualifier Miami) and San Antonio out of West Group C (ahead of Denver). In the December 9-10 quarterfinals, the Knicks routed the Toronto Raptors 117-101 and the Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. Both teams then won their December 13 semifinals in Las Vegas: New York beat the Orlando Magic 132-120, while San Antonio pulled off the more notable upset, edging the West's top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder 111-109 in a game that marked Victor Wembanyama's return to extended minutes (25) following a prior absence. San Antonio carried that semifinal momentum into the final and controlled most of the game. The Spurs led after the first quarter and took the lead into halftime, then stretched their advantage to as many as 11 points in the third quarter behind sharp bench shooting and increased minutes for Wembanyama. New York trailed by double digits at multiple points but seized control in the fourth quarter, igniting a decisive run sparked by back-to-back three-pointers from reserve guard Jordan Clarkson; Mitchell Robinson added a hustle steal and offensive rebound during the surge, and OG Anunoby buried another three to push the Knicks in front. Reserve guard Tyler Kolek scored or assisted on several of New York's key baskets down the stretch as the Knicks' bench outproduced San Antonio's reserves in the decisive minutes. Jalen Brunson was named tournament MVP after averaging roughly 33 points per game across the Cup, finishing the final itself with 25 points and eight assists, but OG Anunoby was the game's leading scorer with 28 points, nine rebounds, and five three-pointers made. Karl-Anthony Towns added 16 points and double-digit rebounds, and Mitchell Robinson controlled the glass with 15 rebounds. For San Antonio, Wembanyama scored in the high teens with several blocks, De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle both posted double-digit assist or scoring totals in the loss, and rookie Dylan Harper also factored into the Spurs' rotation. Brunson credited his supporting cast afterward: "Without Tyler Kolek, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Jordan Clarkson, we don't win this game." The championship was the first major trophy for the Knicks franchise since their 1973 NBA title, a 52-year drought, and it was read as validation of a New York roster built around Brunson and Towns as legitimate contenders. It was also the last NBA Cup final scheduled for T-Mobile Arena, with the league announcing the championship game's move away from Las Vegas for the 2026-27 tournament. Unlike the previous two champions, the Knicks chose not to raise a banner commemorating the Cup win. Each Knicks player earned roughly $530,000 in prize money, while Spurs players received about $212,000 apiece. New York and San Antonio were also set to meet again in the 2026 NBA Finals later that same season, per multiple contemporaneous and later reports — the first time in tournament history that both Cup finalists reached the same season's NBA Finals.

Sources

Data last verified: 11 August 2026.

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