New York's 53-year championship drought faces its most tantalising test yet as the Knicks meet the Spurs on basketball's biggest stage.

The Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, and they are facing the exact San Antonio Spurs side that beat them in five games that year.

Game 1 tips off at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Wednesday, June 3 at 8:30pm ET (10:30am AEST Thursday, June 4), live on ABC.

The symmetry is almost impossible to script. The last time the Knicks reached a Finals, Tim Duncan and a young Spurs core closed the door on New York's hopes.

Now, 27 years on, the same franchise returns to the same stage anchored by Victor Wembanyama, a generational talent whose Finals arrival draws direct comparison to Duncan's own championship debut all those years ago.

Check the latest NBA championship odds ahead of the series.

Wembanyama Named WCF MVP After Spurs Outlast Thunder

San Antonio's road to the Finals ran through Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game Western Conference Finals.

Wembanyama was voted Western Conference Finals MVP after leading the Spurs to a 111-103 Game 7 victory, finishing with 22 points and seven rebounds.

He had also posted 28 points and 10 rebounds in Game 6's commanding 118-91 San Antonio win.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the two-time reigning NBA MVP, scored 35 in the deciding game but the Thunder could not hold off a Spurs team that has grown into this moment across an entire season.

The Knicks were more clinical in the East. New York swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals, running their record to 11-0 in NBA playoffs betting games since trailing Atlanta 2-1 in the first round.

That stretch, which began with two consecutive one-point losses, has built the kind of momentum that Finals runs are made of.

Jalen Brunson spoke pointedly ahead of Game 1: "When there's negative things being said about you, it's important to ignore them."

The two teams split their regular season meetings. San Antonio won 134-132 on December 31, with Wembanyama scoring 31 points and Julian Champagnie connecting on 11 three-pointers.

New York dominated 114-89 on March 1, snapping the Spurs' 11-game winning streak in the process.

The Knicks also claimed the NBA Cup final when the two sides met in Las Vegas, adding yet another layer to what is already a rivalry loaded with history.

Schedule, Stakes, and a 53-Year Wait

The Spurs hold home-court advantage, having finished the regular season at 62-20 against New York's 53-29.

Games 1 and 2 are at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, before the series shifts to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4.

Should it run the distance, Game 7 returns to San Antonio on Friday, June 19.

If either team claims the title, it will be the eighth consecutive year with a different NBA champion, the longest such streak in the sport's history.

For New York, that record sits alongside their own: the Knicks have not won a championship since 1973, a wait of more than five decades that has tested the resolve of one of basketball's most devoted fanbases.

The Spurs have not been back to the Finals since claiming the 2014 championship, and this marks Wembanyama's first appearance on the sport's biggest stage.

All seven potential games are broadcast on ABC in the United States.

In Australia, every game is live on ESPN, which you can watch NBA in Australia through Kayo Sports or Foxtel, with Disney+ another option.

The Finals are an ESPN exclusive locally, so free-to-air is not in the mix this time.