Nick Wright was not above admitting his own bracket has been an embarrassment. He was also not interested in pretending it has spoiled the postseason.
Opening a bonus Monday episode of What's Wright? on the eve of Western Conference Finals Game 1, the host took a long-view inventory of the quartet still standing and arrived at a conclusion he could not have predicted in April.
"This is the perfect final four," Wright said. "And if you're an NBA fan or a basketball fan or just a fan of high intensity drama, this is the correct final four. In the West, it's obvious why the Spurs and the Thunder have been on a collision course all season long."
The Oklahoma City path, Wright argued, was always going to clear easily, even if recent history said otherwise.
"The reasons to think the Thunder weren't going to get back to at least the conference finals were really as simple as, well, the last seven champions have lost in round two or earlier. That was the entirety of the analysis. It was not really all that thoughtful. It was just weird shit's happened the last decade or so in the NBA playoffs for the defending champ in round two. Ask Milwaukee who was up 3-2 on Boston. Ask Denver, who was up 3-2 on Minnesota. Ask the Celtics who got shockingly upset last year."
The Spurs path was harder, but Wright credited their young core with stepping into the moment before anyone was ready for it. He singled out two rookies in particular.
"You had Dylan Harper take a miniature leap. I think it's fair to say giving you 15 a game on 57% shooting and just some clutch minutes and clutch moments where you felt like, oh wow," Wright said. He then turned to the No. 4 overall pick from 2025. "Stephon Castle, who in game six couldn't miss but for the series was a tidy 55/48 shooting splits, leading the team in points per game, aided of course by Wemby's ejection in game two, leading the team in assists per game and giving you six rebounds a game. Castle was unbelievable. To the extent of, if we did a semifinal MVP, it might have been him. It probably would be Wemby based on the strength of the four blocks a game to go along with 20 and 12, but Castle would have had a case for it."
Out east, Wright described a more circuitous route — and a more familiar set of names. He framed the Knicks-Cavs matchup as the preseason favourite that nearly never happened, with the Cavs panicking into a trade for James Harden and the Knicks weathering a 2-9 stretch after New Year's.
"It was two teams in Cleveland and New York who had been building to this moment who had gone all in on their starting fives, who had made coaching changes in the last few years because they felt like they were underachieving in the postseason."
He was not generous about the Harden trade. "The Cavs were so frustrated with where they were at that they made, in my opinion, quite the panic trade, moving on from Darius Garland and bringing in all-time playoff dropper James Harden."
And he was not subtle about his pick. Donovan Mitchell, Wright noted, is seventh all-time in postseason points per game at 27.8, behind only Michael Jordan, Luka Doncic, Allen Iverson, Kevin Durant, Jerry West and LeBron James. But the Knicks, he said, have looked like the more complete team for weeks.
"I lean very strongly Knicks in the East. And while I will be rooting for the Spurs in the West, I think Oklahoma City has a little too much despite San Antonio's regular season dominance. So I think we're going to get the Knicks Thunder in the finals."
The bigger point of the episode, though, was not the picks. It was that, against the odds and the history of the last decade, the bracket coughed up the four teams that fans actually wanted.
"The two juggernauts that people think are going to be competing for the title of dynasty of this era — Oklahoma City and San Antonio — against the two teams that understandably felt like if not this year, then when are we going to make a finals in Cleveland and the Knicks," Wright said. "These next two weeks of one game every single night I think should be exceptional."
