Wembanyama falls short as Knicks win NBA Cup 124-113

The Emirates NBA Cup slipped away from San Antonio on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, as the New York Knicks defeated the Spurs 124-113 at Madison Square Garden in the inaugural NBA Cup Championship game. Victor Wembanyama finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in just 25 minutes, but it was not enough to prevent New York from hoisting the trophy in this high-stakes regular season showcase.

A Knicks surge too powerful to contain in 40 tense minutes

San Antonio held its own early in the contest, with Dylan Harper providing instant offense from the wing and Stephon Castle facilitating the offense. The Spurs kept pace through the first half, relying on the French phenom’s inside-out threat to generate quality looks. New York, however, began to assert itself through Jalen Brunson’s relentless mid-range attack and O.G. Anunoby’s ability to hurt the Spurs from everywhere on the floor.

The third quarter proved decisive. Brunson, logging 41 minutes on the night, orchestrated a New York run that the Spurs could not reverse. San Antonio’s defense, often anchored by the imposing presence of Wembanyama, struggled to contain both the pick-and-roll threat of Brunson and the off-ball movement that created open threes for Anunoby. The Knicks stretched their lead to double digits and never looked back entering the fourth.

In the final period, with the n°1 pick of the 2023 draft limited to 25 minutes — a restriction that raised eyebrows given the stakes — San Antonio never found the burst needed to close a gap that reached 11 points. The final buzzer confirmed a 124-113 New York victory.

Anunoby erupts, Brunson orchestrates a championship performance

The defining sequence of the night came in the third quarter when O.G. Anunoby connected on back-to-back threes, pushing the Knicks ahead by double digits for the first time. Anunoby finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting, adding 9 rebounds — a complete two-way performance that the Spurs simply had no answer for. Brunson chipped in 25 points and 8 assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns quietly posted a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double to give New York a dominant frontcourt presence of its own.

For the Spurs, Luke Kornet was the lone bright spot from the bench, shooting an efficient 7-of-9 for 14 points, finishing as the only San Antonio rotation player with a positive plus-minus on the evening at +7.

Victor Wembanyama’s 18-point night in limited time

The pivot des Spurs delivered flashes of brilliance — a mid-range pull-up, two rim-protecting blocks, and a pair of threes — but his 7-of-17 shooting and a brutal -18 plus-minus underscored how little traction San Antonio gained when he was on the floor. His minute restriction in a championship context will fuel debate heading into the week.

• Victor Wembanyama : 18 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk, 7/17 FG — 25 min
• Dylan Harper : 21 pts, 7 reb, 5/7 from three — 28 min
• De’Aaron Fox : 16 pts, 9 ast — 32 min
• Stephon Castle : 15 pts, 12 ast, 7 reb — 35 min

Castle, Fox, and a Spurs squad still building toward something bigger

Despite the defeat, this NBA Cup run revealed genuine depth in San Antonio’s roster. Stephon Castle’s 12-assist, 15-point line and De’Aaron Fox’s 9 assists demonstrated that the Spurs’ supporting cast has grown around their franchise cornerstone. The pairing of Fox and the phénomène français at the top of the roster looks increasingly formidable as the season progresses.

San Antonio now returns to the regular season grind with a 124-113 Cup final loss on the ledger but plenty of momentum to carry forward. The Spurs’ next assignment will be a chance to prove that this group — young, dynamic, and growing — can convert near-misses into victories when it matters most.