A championship that was 53 years in the making marked a fitting conclusion to the first season under the NBA's new $76 billion rights deal.

The New York Knicks, for the first time in 53 seasons and third time in their storied history, are champions of the NBA.

The New York Knicks captured their first NBA championship in 53 years with a 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night.

The 2026 NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs drew the largest TV audience for any NBA Finals since 1998.

Across five games, ABC and ESPN averaged 20.6 million viewers.