00:00The 2026 NBA Finals are in full swing. The New York Knicks leading the San Antonio Spurs two
00:05games to nothing. While both teams are competing for the ever-surprised Larry O'Brien trophy,
00:10the real winner might just be the rest of the league. Yeah, no kidding. We spoke to Randall
00:16Williams. He's the co-host of Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast on why the Knicks-Spurs matchup
00:21is a goldmine for the NBA. You have the league's biggest market and then you have potentially a
00:27global superstar at a level that the NBA probably hasn't seen before. You know, you think about
00:31the superstars over the last 30 years, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry,
00:37and many more. All of them are American. So what happens if the face of the league wins a championship
00:43against the biggest market, one of the biggest brands in all of sports? It could have tremendous
00:48ramifications for the league going forward and for Victor Wemby-Nyama specifically.
00:53Talking about Wemby, I'm curious when you look at him kind of in complement with
00:56a Brunson or a Towns. This is a big moment for them as well. Yes, they're more than household
01:02names, widely known, but how does this stand to kind of bolster their standing and the prospects
01:07for them getting bigger and bigger deals going forward? Sure. I would say for Wemby in particular,
01:12the world is his oyster if he wins a championship. Like if he closes out this series at MSG, so
01:19it'd be
01:19great if they finish in San Antonio, but at Madison Square Garden for potentially a game six or it's
01:24impossible for him to close it out at game four. He's going to be the biggest superstar
01:30that I've seen in a very, very long time. In comparison to Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson,
01:36they are instantly in New York glory. Like it's that's the bottom line is that they will never
01:41have to pay for a meal. No matter the borough, no matter the restaurant, everybody is going to be
01:47loving on them. We always make fun of me because sports ball is definitely not my category here.
01:52We're working on it. Sports ball. And David was saying like, you don't have to say
01:55Wemby in Yana. I was like, I actually, even I know that name. Like that is a name that even
01:59I'm
02:00familiar with as like a non-avid fan. What kind of reach does he have when it comes to brand
02:04endorsements in a way that we haven't really seen from all those American-based players you were
02:09mentioning before? What do you think his market cap is going to be when you look at who's interested
02:14in backing him? Well, he's been very, very selective. His partners have been Nike, Louis Vuitton,
02:19and there was a drink called Barcode. And I'm unclear if that partnership is still active,
02:23the Barcode one specifically. But beyond that, you think about just him being from France, him,
02:28the way that he talks about basketball, the way that he speaks socially. He is a brand's dream come
02:34true because he's going to want to do the commercials. He'll wear the apparel. And so I think he's going
02:41to decide what he wants to do. A lot of times when players come into the NBA, the brands, you
02:46know,
02:47who do you want to join or do you want to join our team? And then they get to choose.
02:52But they're not
02:52always the A-listers. Victor Wambinyama is 22 years old and would be just about an A-lister for any
02:58brand
02:58that he selects as opposed to the brand selecting him.
03:01God, he's only 22.
03:02I know. Sobering.
03:04That's crazy to me.
03:04That's ridiculous.
03:05It's like very underachieving here on this couch.
03:09Randall, can you contrast this year's finals with what we saw last year? So you had the
03:12Thunder and the Pacers last year. I know there was a lot of hand-wringing about the reach of that
03:17and
03:17the relative value of that. How did that pan out and how does it compare to what we're seeing this
03:22year?
03:22The energy this year is just different. In comparison to Oklahoma City, I'd say Oklahoma City
03:27had a higher energy in terms of around the arena. But much of the conversation was about ratings.
03:33People were worried about the NBA and whether people were going to watch and how many people
03:37were going to tune in. And this is despite having a $76 billion media deal. The finances of the NBA
03:42are perfectly fine. But this year, even being around league personnel, the teams themselves,
03:48there's just energy. And don't even get me started on New York. I am absolutely worried about what the
03:53city is going to look like on Monday. San Antonio is excited. But of course, when you lose game one,
04:00it's a lot less exciting.
04:02I will say, obviously, I'm new to the city, but I do think people have collectively lost
04:06their minds. I mean, all my doormen are like wearing Nick shirts underneath their things.
04:09This is the tip of the iceberg.
04:10Everybody in my building, some guy in my building who I don't know, but overheard a conversation
04:14where he was wearing like a shirt, you know, a sleeveless Nick's jersey. And he works in finance.
04:19And he's like, oh, I'm wearing this to work today. They can come at me. Like, I'm so excited.
04:22One hundred percent. But to that point, is there any concern about the backlash, about
04:26how much these tickets are costing? Because these are the folks who have been Knicks fans
04:30for the longest.
04:31Absolutely not.
04:32They deserve to go.
04:34No, they don't care. They don't care.
04:36I'm not the person who's paying for them. I'm blessed enough to have a media credential
04:40to where I get to sit in the third level. But what I would tell you is that the Knicks
04:44have not been, there has not been a NBA finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999.
04:49Now, there are two teams that primarily play there, the Rangers and the Knicks, of course.
04:53But when you think about why is that arena there, it's there for the Knicks. And for
04:58the Knicks not to have been at the peak of the basketball event, the championship for
05:04a quarter century, that's a very, very big deal. And so there's these season ticket holders
05:08that have been holding on to them for a very, very long time. They thought they were going
05:11to get to the NBA finals last year, and they didn't. Now they're there. And when every
05:16single time the Knicks win, the prices are going to go up. And so I think the peak
05:19moment right now is going to be game three for MSG. But let me tell you something, if
05:25this series closes out and the Knicks go up 3-1, and they have the opportunity to win
05:29the series at Madison Square Garden, I think that that will truly be a once in a lifetime
05:34event, not just for being in the arena, but just being around Madison Square Garden.
05:38I think it is going to be absolute pandemonium.
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