NBA Finals: Wemby stopper? How Karl-Anthony Towns has bested Victor Wembanyama

With the New York Knicks up 2-0, so much of the 2026 NBA Finals comes down to this: all Victor Wembanyama has to do is get past Karl-Anthony Towns. So far in this series, Wembanyama hasn’t been able to. Certainly not in the biggest moments.

With a minute left in Game 1 with the San Antonio Spurs down by four, Wemby tried to take Towns off the dribble so he could get to the cup and make it a one-possession game. Instead, Wembanyma bounced the ball off his own knee in an attempt to blow by Towns. 

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Turnover, Spurs lose.

In Game 2, with 12 seconds left in a tie game, Wembanyama hauled in a rebound over Towns after derailing Jalen Brunson’s shot, and then it was off to the races. Stephon Castle saw that Wembanyama had a step on Towns and the Spurs guard spun forward to clear the way. Wembanyama short-circuited again, this time choosing not to challenge Towns in a foot race and he embarrassingly threw the ball off Castle’s turned back. 

Turnover again, Spurs lose again.

Moments like these make one wonder if Towns is in Wembanyama’s head or if Wembanyama simply isn’t up to the task of overcoming the Towns assignment. By most accounts, Towns has been the best player in the Finals and should be in pole position for Finals MVP, though the odds still favor Brunson for that honor. It is Towns — not Wemby or Brunson — who leads all players in plus-minus at plus-25, meaning the Knicks have outscored the Spurs by a whopping 25 points in his 68 minutes during the Finals. 

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The 11-year vet has steadied the Knicks on both ends in a tenuous series in which the Spurs, not the Knicks, have actually won the Brunson minutes. San Antonio simply hasn’t found a reliable answer for Towns, who is averaging 19.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 4 assists per game on pristine efficiency.

And it’s all because Towns has bested Wembanyama in their minutes. At first glance, Wembanyama’s Finals debut looks impressive. The 22-year-old center is averaging 27.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in the first two games, some of the best numbers you’ll see on a Finals stage. According to Stathead tracking, only two other players…

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Author : Tom Haberstroh

Publish date : 2026-06-07 16:01:00

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