With Game 1 of the NBA Finals looming in San Antonio, Stephen A. Smith devoted his First Take "A-List" to a single question: what do the New York Knicks have to do to win a championship against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs? His top five was, in his own words, "fluid" -- but the message underneath it was that New York's role players will decide this series.
He started at No. 5 with Mitchell Robinson, who recently underwent surgery on his pinky. Smith had no patience for excuses. "I better not hear about some damn pinky getting in the way of your productivity," he said. "You're a role player. You're only playing about 14 minutes a game, but you've got six fouls to give. You're seven feet tall, 245 to 250 pounds. You'd better be ready to make your contribution."
At No. 4 came Landry Shamet, whose shooting off the bench Smith called a genuine swing factor. "Did you notice he hit 11 of his last 12 threes in that series against the Cleveland Cavaliers?" he said. "If this man comes off the bench and he's draining those three-point shots, that's a problem for the San Antonio Spurs. Wemby at seven-foot-five can't do much about that." Smith conceded the comparison he reached for was hyperbole -- "he looked a little bit like Steph Curry" -- but stood by the underlying point.
No. 3 was Karl-Anthony Towns, and the instruction was simple: stay out of foul trouble and stay behind the arc. "You can't get in the game and get taken out of the game," Smith said. "We need you in there as a facilitator, being that threat from long range that Wemby and others have got to come out and guard. We need you behind the three-point line all day, every day."
Mikal Bridges landed at No. 2 as what Smith called "the wild card." After a quiet end to the regular season, Bridges has caught fire in the playoffs. "He's been fantastic. The brother shooting over 60 percent in the conference finals," Smith said, adding that Bridges will also draw tough defensive assignments on the perimeter, occasionally even against Wembanyama away from the rim.
His No. 1, predictably, was Jalen Brunson -- but framed in an unusual way. "Wemby at seven-five can't be the biggest dude in the series," Smith argued. "Jalen Brunson has got to be bigger than Wembanyama. He has to have such an impact that he ends up being an even bigger factor with the ball in his hands as the point guard than even Wemby is going to be, because the Knicks are going to need the collection of all of this in order to erase what I consider to be a 53-year curse."
The First Take panel largely endorsed the list, though one co-host argued Smith had buried the most important item. "The number one thing that you didn't put on the list," he said, "is keep Jalen Brunson safe at all costs. Don't let him get hurt. This list doesn't matter without Jalen Brunson."
There was also agreement that New York's depth, not its stars, is the genuine X-factor. "The bench has to come up big in order for them to win this series," one panelist said. "The bench has to continue to come in and uplift the starters." Cam'ron, the guest host, graded the segment a rare nine, while another voice handed Smith an A-plus -- by his own telling, the first he had given out all postseason.
