SAN ANTONIO — Luke Kornet wasn’t thinking about making multiple trips to the NBA Finals or making a play that would live in franchise lore.
He was a Westchester Knick, playing to thousands of empty seats in a 5,000-seat arena in White Plains.
“Talking about being on [the NBA Finals] stage, it’s a little different than the [literal] stage at the Westchester County Center that is on one end of the court,” the Spurs center said Tuesday at Frost Bank Arena. “I was just trying to make a name for myself, or really, just be able to be in the NBA and see how that goes … I had a great time in my first two years, especially in Westchester. I feel like the group that we had, it was some really fun basketball that we played. That’s what I remember the most. We had a lot of talent and young guys and it felt like an extension of college. I felt like I was growing my game a lot at that time. A lot of guys always talk about the G-League like you can’t wait to get out of it, but I really enjoyed my time.”
Kornet went undrafted out of Vanderbilt in 2017, then signed a two-way contract with the Knicks.
He spent the bulk of that season in Westchester, appearing in 36 games, but the next year Kornet saw more opportunities at Madison Square Garden.
In the 2018-19 season, Kornet averaged 7.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 17.0 minutes, while appearing in 46 games (18 starts) for the Knicks, alongside the likes of Kevin Knox, Emmanuel Mudiay and Noah Vonleh on a 17-win team that matched the worst record in team history.
“It’s definitely a cool, full-circle moment playing the Knicks and having started there,” Kornet said. “Now it’s like my third Finals … one of those things that maybe 20 years from now I’ll have a little more perspective on, but for the moment just trying to succeed and win a championship.”
Kornet already has one ring, which he earned with the Celtics in 2024, finally carving out a key role on a team after four brief tenures elsewhere.
Kornet, 30, left Boston for San Antonio last summer after receiving a four-year, $41 million contract as a free agent to serve as Victor Wembanyama’s backup and provide experience on a roster that would become the second-youngest team to reach the NBA Finals since 1954.
Kornet — who recorded a career-high seven blocks against the Knicks in Game 5 of the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals — has been scrutinized in the postseason for the Spurs’ struggles with Wembanyama off the floor, but the backup recently made the biggest play of his career when he chased down Isaiah Hartenstein for a block late in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, helping send San Antonio to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.
“Someone from the bench yelled, ‘Who is it? LeBron James?’” Kornet said. “We’ll see which one has more staying power in the record books of history.”
