Biggest Winners and Losers from 2026 NBA Playoff Conference Finals So Far
As we near the finish line of the 2026 NBA Conference Finals, several stars from all four teams have given us plenty to praise, while others are begging to be picked apart.
The New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs all have players on either side of the "winners and losers" ledger.
And today, we're here to share and break down the biggest names from both groups.
Winner: Jalen Brunson
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If this was an exercise on the entire postseason run of the Knicks, there'd be a temptation to include just about everyone in the rotation.
New York has been, almost certainly, the best story of these playoffs. At this point, a trip to the Finals feels like a formality.
And a big reason for that is Jalen Brunson's scoring and playmaking.
In every matchup against Cleveland, he's picked apart whoever's put in front of him. Whether it's James Harden, Donovan Mitchell or Dennis Schrรถder, Brunson has found the quickest path to the basket around them. He's manipulated each in the pick-and-roll. And he's exposed the lack of defensive force from all three.
In the series, Brunson is averaging 29.0 points, 8.7 assists and 1.3 steals, and he's doing all that despite shooting 11.8 percent from deep.
Most importantly, he swung the series in its first game when he found his team down 22 with eight minutes left. From that point in Game 1 to the final buzzer at the end of overtime, Brunson had 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting, handed out four assists and grabbed three rebounds.
New York easily could've started the conference finals in a one-game hole, but Brunson wouldn't allow it. And now, the Knicks are on the verge of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.
Loser: James Harden
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James Harden turns 37 this offseason. This might be his last decent shot at contention while being one of his team's best players.
And instead of going out in some kind of blaze of glory against the Knicks, it's looking like Harden may end another postseason run with a whimper.
After averaging 20.5 points and 7.7 assists for the Cavs in the regular season, Harden is at 17.3 points and 3.3 assists in this series. He's shooting 41.3 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from three.
What's maybe worse is the fact Harden has repeatedly been targeted on defense, he's yet to offer much real resistance and New York Knicks coach Mike Brown is publicly calling him out for it.
There are plenty of scapegoats for Cleveland. Max Strus and Sam Merrill shooting a combined 30.0 percent from three has really limited the attack. And Donovan Mitchell simply hasn't been good enough (more on him later).
But when your lead playmaker becomes this big a liability on both ends of the floor, you're almost doomed to lose a series.
Winner: Mikal Bridges
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The Knicks have understandably taken a lot of heat over the last two years for surrendering five first-round picks and another first-round pick swap in the trade that landed them Mikal Bridges.
That's the kind of haul you give up for a superduperstar, and Bridges' regular-season averages of 16.0 points, 3.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds as a Knick sure don't scream "superduperstar."
But adding Bridges was a big part of establishing the "'Nova Knicks" identity with Brunson and Josh Hart. Bridges has been a solid gap-filling, three-and-D wing who's willing to defer to Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
And in this series, specifically, he's doing all he can to snuff out the "Knicks overpaid for Bridges!" takes, once and for all.
Bridges' defense has been a huge part of Harden's struggles. It's been good enough all over the floor that whatever he might've provided on offense would've been a bonus.
As it turns out, the bonus he's provided there has been massive too. Bridges is averaging 19.7 points on just 12.7 shots per game against the Cavs. He's shooting 71.1 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three.
If he keeps this up, and the Knicks win it all, that trade will look like a stroke of genius, in hindsight.
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Loser: Donovan Mitchell
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Mitchell hasn't been terrible in this series. He's averaging 26.0 points and 3.0 steals per game. On paper, his numbers have clearly been better than Harden's, but he also hasn't been anywhere near good enough for Cleveland to advance.
First of all, he's shooting 32.1 percent from three and 68.8 pecent from the line. His low assist average is partly the result of bad shooting from teammates, but 2.7 assists isn't enough either (especially when Harden's creation has fallen off a cliff). And his defense hasn't been much better than Harden's either.
The biggest reason for criticism, though, has to be Mitchell's performance in the games' biggest moments. He was almost nonexistent on offense when the Knicks erased that 22-point, fourth-quarter deficit in Game 1. And for the entire series, he's averaging 5.0 points and 0.3 assists, while shooting 20.0 percent from the field, in fourth quarters.
The performance has been uninspiring enough to wonder if Mitchell, particularly at the salary he might command, even makes sense for the Cavs' longterm future.
Barring a miraculous comeback, Cleveland is going to have to think long and hard about pivoting to a new, Mitchell-less era this offseason.
Winner: Victor Wembanyama
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Victor Wembanyama has gotten pushed, pulled, grabbed, held, flung and just about every other manner of fouled countless times in this series, and plenty of them have gone uncalled.
And while the physicality from the Oklahoma City defense has, at times, limited Wemby, he's been, on balance, the best player in the Western Conference Finals.
After the Spurs' 21-point win on Sunday, Wembanyama has now been a positive in the plus-minus column in each game. He's averaging 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.0 blocks and 1.3 steals, while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from deep.
There's still a very real chance the Spurs are eliminated before the Finals, but there's no question Wembanyama has left even more of a mark on the league with this series.
At the very least, the "best player in the world" arguments are a little tougher to make for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokiฤ than they were a couple weeks ago.
Loser: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the other side of that coin.
And while his basic averages of 24.8 points, 10.0 assists and 2.0 steals look good, they don't tell the full story of his conference finals.
He's been a negative in the plus-minus column twice and is minus-eight for the series. He's shooting 39.2 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from the line.
Generally speaking, the conversation about his game has been more about flopping and falling than anything else.
And again, he's on the other side of the floor from the player who may be snatching his crown.
There's still time for SGA to flip the narrative. If he has big performances in a couple more Thunder wins, the discussion will change quickly. But right now, this series is all about the rise of Wemby.
Winner: Alex Caruso
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He only played 14 minutes and took one shot in Sunday's blowout loss. Officials were clearly a little more keyed into his overly physical defense, since he had four fouls in those 14 minutes.
But prior to Game 4, he was almost certainly OKC's best player in this series.
In the first three contests, he had a 17.3 box plus/minus (the highest of anyone in the series) and averaged 21.0 points, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks in 27.0 minutes, while shooting 60.9 percent from three.
His intensity on defense and reliability as a catch-and-shoot threat were primary ingredients in both Thunder wins and kept OKC alive for most of its Game 1 loss.
Sunday's loss and his lack of numbers in it paints the series a little differently, but Caruso has undoubtedly been a plus overall.
And with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell both hurt, OKC will need him to have a couple more big nights to advance to the Finals.
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