Cars, watches and llamas: What Spurs and Knicks players will do with their NBA Cup winnings
It isn’t just an NBA Cup trophy on the line in Las Vegas.
Players and the head coach from the winning squad will take home $530,000 each.
Some Knicks are already daydreaming about what they’d do with the extra cash if they take down Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on Tuesday night.
“I’m going to pay my rent,” Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson said. “They can just have the whole thing.”
Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks talks to the media during the 2025 Emirate NBA Cup Practice and Media Availability on December 15, 2025 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. NBAE via Getty Images
Karl-Anthony Towns is thinking about something charitable.
“Honestly, I’ll probably give it to the Dominican Republic,” Towns said. “They have ‘Go Sports’, ‘Go Ministries’ over there. I feel very confident knowing the money will go over there and take care of the kids in the D.R. I would love to win so I can give them more money and help the community over there.”
Josh Hart, who had a $185,000 stash of his watches and jewelry stolen from a SoHo hotel room last month, is going to start re-stocking his collection.
“I’ll buy a watch,” Hart said. “… I lost three watches so I have to start replacing those. We’re in Vegas. If I put it on a hand of blackjack, I might be able to double it and get more watches.”
The Emirates NBA Cup champions trophy at the T-Mobile Arena. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The Spurs’ Keldon Johnson has a zanier idea: buying a llama for his ranch outside of San Antonio, where he already houses dozens of livestock.
While the money isn’t life-changing for highly-paid NBAers like Brunson and Towns, Knicks sophomore Tyler Kolek will be getting a big-time bonus to add to his $2.2 million salary with a win.
“Definitely it’s a big number. Last Christmas, I bought my mom a car with the money we got,” Kolek said last week. “We were in this round last year and we didn’t advance. So hopefully we can get it done. It would be a nice little Christmas gift.”
This time around, he said, he’s getting a car for his dad.
