If you’ve been consuming any media over the last few days, you have definitely heard that this NBA Finals is technically a rematch from 27 years ago, back when the San Antonio Spurs started their legendary dynasty by beating the New York Knicks four games to one.

However, the analysis tends to start and end there (with a few key parallels briefly added in). But what is really similar about this iteration of the matchup? What are the key differences? And is this series different enough to avoid history repeating itself?

What Is The Same

It is pretty poetic how many similarities exist between this run to the Finals and the one the Spurs embarked on nearly three decades ago. Back then, San Antonio was going through its first big run with Tim Duncan, their prized first-round pick from a few seasons prior who would go on to lead the Spurs to four more championships after clinching this one. To get to the Knicks, the Spurs had to go through the Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Lakers (who, at the time, rostered Duncan’s greatest contemporary, Shaquille O’Neal). Oh, and by the way, this all transpired during Duncan’s age-22 season.

Victor Wembanyama is currently in the midst of his age-22 season. He was touted as a generational first overall pick. He had to go through the Timberwolves, Trail Blazers, and his most formidable nemesis (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) to earn this matchup against the Knicks. And the Spurs are hoping for a series victory that kickstarts a new era of prolonged success.

What Is Different?

The path to getting to the NBA Finals may have been similar for Duncan and Wembanyama, but what lies ahead this time around is far different. During the 1999 NBA Playoffs, the Spurs went on a twelve game win streak (spanning from the first round all the way to the Finals), making them one of only five teams in NBA history to win eleven straight games in the same postseason.

One of those other five teams is the 2026 Knicks. So, this time, the rolls are reversed. By the way, as a fun aside, these two teams boast the least impressive eleven-plus game win streaks when you consider the quality of their opponents.

This brings us to the next point. This Knicks’ team is far more dangerous than the one Duncan drew way back when. The 1998-99 season was shortened by a lockout (shortening the regular season to 50 games), so there is a little noise in this comparison, but that team ranked 14th in net rating and finished eighth in the Eastern Conference standings. This year’s bunch was fifth in net rating and was a third seed.

The Knicks are also much healthier this time around.

Patrick Ewing dealt with Achilles tendinitis the entire season, forcing him to miss 14 games during the regular season. Ewing’s Achilles eventually tore during Game of the Eastern Conference Finals, causing him to miss the rest of that series and the entirety (!!) of the NBA Finals (also giving rise to Bill Simmons’ famous “Ewing Theory”).

The only real injury the 2026 Knicks are dealing with right now (*knocks wood*) is Mitchell Robinson’s

mysterious right pinky that he had surgery on after the Eastern Conference Finals. Despite just having surgery, Robinson plans to be ready to go for Game 1. Jalen Brunson is also a better player right now than anyone on that Knicks team during that season. Ewing was at the tail end of his prime and never fully healthy. The same can be said for Larry Johnson. Meanwhile, Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell deserve a ton of credit for getting the Knicks as far as they did, but neither of them ever got significant MVP vote shares (Brunson finished fifth in MVP voting in 2023-24). One-number metrics aren’t a perfect way to compare players, but just look at the difference between Brunson (and Karl-Anthony Towns, for that matter) and all the 1998-99 Knicks in Box Plus-Minus:

For a 1990s playoff series, the Knicks and Spurs were surprisingly cordial. The physicality was ramped up a level, as it always is in high-leverage moments, but there were no notable scurmishes or ejections.

I wouldn’t bet on it, but there is definitely some opportunity for this bout to get testy. Not only did the Knicks defeat the Spurs in the NBA Cup, but Wembanyama may have planted a seed for animosity by throwing the ball that Brunson scored 61 points (his career-high) with into the stands after a home victory.

Back then, the Knicks were a long shot to win the Finals. According to Covers’ database, they were given +600 odds to win at the beginning of the series, which is an implied probability of 14.3%. This go-around, FanDuel has them at +152 (39.7%).

It is cute to think about all the parallels that exist between Wembanyama and the Hall of Famer that elevated the Spurs’ organization to basketball royalty, but there is nothing cute about the version of the Knicks they will need to beat to get the Larry O’Brien in this sequel.