The 2026 NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs has inevitably stirred memories of 1999, the last time the two franchises met for a title. Colin Cowherd, however, wants no part of the nostalgia.
On his FS1 show The Herd, the broadcaster argued that the romanticised version of that series bears little resemblance to the basketball on display today, and he reached for the scoreline to make his point.
"The average score of that series was Spurs 85, Knicks 79," Cowherd said. "Stop romanticising the good old days. It was masonry. Brick after brick."
His case was that the skill gap between eras is enormous. Where the 1999 Knicks were lucky to put two players on the floor who could comfortably handle and shoot from distance, Cowherd noted, the current rosters are stocked with versatile, multi-positional scorers, headlined by a 7-foot-4 centre in Victor Wembanyama who can pull up for step-back threes.
"This Knicks team would wipe the floor with every Knicks team you've romanticised," Cowherd said, pointing to the ball-handling and shooting of OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride and Josh Hart.
The broader argument was a defence of the modern game itself. Cowherd contrasted the grinding, low-scoring slugfest of the late 1990s with the tempo, passing and shooting that defined the Spurs' run to the Finals, and suggested fans are watching a far more advanced product than the one they tend to mythologise.
That is not to say he expects a track meet. Cowherd believes New York will have to win this series on physicality, leaning on its size and experience to push and pull at Wembanyama and force him into becoming a jump shooter rather than a rim threat. He singled out Towns as the swing factor, arguing the big man must walk a fine line between being aggressive against Wembanyama and avoiding the foul trouble that has dogged him throughout his career, while using his perimeter shooting to drag San Antonio's centre away from the basket.
Cowherd also leaned into the stakes for the franchise, framing the series around New York's long championship drought and the chance to finally end it. For all the reverence for the 1999 meeting, his verdict was blunt: the rematch fans are about to watch is not a faded throwback, but a showcase of how far the league has come.
"This final is going to be unbelievable," he said.
