WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Yankees manager Aaron Boone had just finished a successful road series but still felt a bit exasperated after New York took two of three games against the Athletics in the minor league stadium that torments pitchers and fielders alike.

“I didn’t play in the PCL. But I feel like I’ve experienced it a couple times here when it gets hot like this,” Boone said Sunday following a 13-8 win against the A’s. “You’re never feeling safe. … Just glad to escape here and get on the bird. It’s a challenging place to play. You have to figure it out.”

Less than halfway through their second season at their temporary home at Sutter Health Park in the Sacramento area, the A’s are still trying to deal with the challenges of a ballpark that inflates offensive numbers.

The heat and jet stream can turn what might seem like normal fly balls into home runs. The high sky and unpredictable winds make catching fly balls an adventure. It combines to make the ballpark one of the friendliest in the league for hitters and has appeared to have taken a toll on the A’s pitchers.

The A’s went 1-5 on their most recent homestand, allowing 47 runs against Seattle and New York — including 13 in one inning against New York — in what has become a pattern in the team’s waystation before moving to Las Vegas.

The A’s have shown promise this season and have spent plenty of time in first place in the AL West before this recent slump. They rank 10th best in the majors with a 17-14 mark on the road, while their 11-17 record at home is the second worst.

Pitching is the major reason why.

The A’s are allowing 3.01 more runs per game at home than on the road. That would be the biggest discrepancy ever for a full season in the majors, according to Sportradar, beating the previous mark of 2.82 by the Phillies in 1923 and even topping any season played in the mile-high altitude in Denver.

“You watch games here,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said when asked about the challenge of pitching at the A’s ballpark. “You got to keep the ball down the zone and get the ball on the ground. We’ve paid for our mistakes probably more than what we’ve paid for mistakes on the road. That being said, we’ve got to play better defense at home. … That’s a combination of what it takes to pitch better. It’s also to play better.”

While the A’s try to downplay the impact knowing they can’t change it, the evidence is stark. The ease with how the ball carries takes a toll on pitchers, who can become reluctant to challenge hitters.

The A’s have walked batters at the second-highest rate in the majors at home, compared to 18th highest on the road. The A’s walked 16 batters in the three-game series against the Yankees, including four with the bases loaded.

“We’re not going to overfocus on home-road splits right now but obviously we’re well aware that we haven’t played well in this ballpark,” Kotsay said.

But the pitchers say they try to do their best to avoid letting it play with their heads.

“You can try and pitch to it, and if you do that, it might work one time, but you might also do something that you don’t want to do, or try and do something you’re not good at,” A’s starter Aaron Civale said. “Sometimes the wind’s blowing out here, sometimes the wind is blowing out in another stadium or different place. So there’s factors everywhere, rain, weather, cold, hot. It’s all conditions that we can’t control. Unless you have a roof over your head, then surely there’s nothing you can do about it.”

While the A’s pitchers have been hurt more by the environment than their counterparts, the conditions are a challenge for everyone. On Saturday night, Yankees starter Ryan Weathers had the kind of stuff that should have produced a strong outing.

Weathers had 10 strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings and generated swings and misses on more than 40% of swings for just the third time in his career. But three home runs — including two on what he considered to be good pitches — proved costly in a 6-4 loss.

But he said he couldn’t change his approach even knowing the risks of any flyball.

“I did my time in the PCL, so I know how these parks work,” he said. “But obviously, that can’t go into your decision-making, can’t go into your pitching.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it will comply with a court ruling temporarily blocking a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of President Donald Trump, effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least two weeks after setbacks in the courts and a fierce backlash from Republicans who objected to potential payouts to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The announcement from the Justice Department came in response to a Friday court ruling by a federal judge in Virginia who ordered plans for the fund halted pending additional arguments later this month. The department said in a statement that it “disagrees strongly” with the ruling but would abide by it.

The Trump administration had defended the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” established to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, as an appropriate corrective measure to make up for what officials insist was weaponized law enforcement during the Biden administration.

Though some Trump supporters, including participants in the Capitol riot, celebrated the announcement of the fund, the reaction among Republicans in Congress has been decidedly more hostile. Senators pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the fund at a closed-door gathering last month that Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called one of “the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”

The fund’s future was called into question Friday by a pair of court rulings.

One judge in Virginia temporarily halted its formation and scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order barring the government from moving forward with the fund while pending litigation challenges it.

“This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise,” the Justice Department said in a statement in which it asserted its disagreement with the ruling. “The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”

Separately, the federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond to “grievous allegations” by settlement critics that the president abandoned his claims to avoid the court’s scrutiny of an illegal deal. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave them until June 12 to respond in writing to allegations of collusion and whether the case should be reopened because the court was the “victim of a fraud.”

Pride month has begun across the U.S., bringing parades and parties to big cities and small towns to celebrate LGBTQ+ people.

The rainbow-filled festivities this year come as President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing policies to roll back the rights of transgender people and curtail recognition of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Jordan Braxton, co-president of USA Prides, a organization of Pride groups, says the events have always been rooted in protest.

“A festival is a time to celebrate,” she said. “Those are acts of resistance, too.”

The event has its roots in the violent police raid of New York’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, on June 28, 1969.

The raid sparked a series of public protests and catalyzed the gay rights movement at a time when many LGBTQ+ people kept their identities to themselves.

To mark the first anniversary in June 1970, there were marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

Now, events take place in big cities, suburbs and small towns around the world.

President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in the U.S. with an executive order in 1999. Since then, Democratic presidents have signed similar orders each year they’ve been in office. Republican presidents, including Trump, have not.

Parades and street fairs headline Pride celebrations. But there’s more to them than that.

San Francisco Pride includes a golf tournament and a human right summit. Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis has a bar crawl, and Central Alabama Pride in Birmingham features a singing competition.

This year’s celebrations include main events in Los Angeles on June 14, Chicago on June 20 and 21, San Francisco on June 27 and New York on June 28. There are events this month in international cities including Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo and Tokyo.

While those events have been around for more than 50 years, this year marks just the sixth edition of a formal Pride celebration in Haddon Township, New Jersey, a Philadelphia suburb. A parade is scheduled for Thursday, and a community night is Friday.

Isis Petrie Williams, president of Haddon Township Pride, said that the 2,000 to 3,000 people in the parade will include local high school marching bands, youth sports teams and many people passing out candy.

“We decided to have a radical expression of joy, acceptance and love, centered on exposure and community connection,” she said.

For years, policies across the U.S. were generally becoming more welcoming to LGBTQ+ people, including in June 2015 when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationally.

In recent years, several policies have swung the other way.

The Supreme Court in March ruled against a ban on “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, saying it violated free speech protections.

During Pride Month last year, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for transgender kids.

This decade, most Republican-controlled state governments have passed similar restrictions on gender-affirming care, barred transgender women and girls from female sports competitions, and restricted which restrooms transgender people can use in schools — and, in some cases, other public places.

Trump has signed executive orders seeking some of the same policies on a federal level.

On Monday, one of those policies suffered a blow when a court ruled that the military illegally banned transgender troops.

Last year, some big corporations stopped contributing to Pride events.

Braxton said she’s noticed some investment firms pulling back this year, following companies such as Anheuser-Busch and Walmart last year.

“It’s all because of Trump’s DEI policies. Corporations are afraid that if they sponsor a Pride event, they are going to get scrutinized from this administration, which is completely sad,” she said.

But she said that smaller events have seen local businesses boost sponsorships.

That’s been true for New Jersey’s Haddon Township Pride. Williams said the Coast Guard is the only major national sponsor that’s abandoned the event in recent years.

Meanwhile, local hospitals, restaurants, law firms, coffee shops and other businesses are contributing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department plans to drastically slash the number of U.S. embassies and consulates in Africa that can process visas for foreigners seeking to come to the United States.

The almost 50 U.S. embassies and consulates that are processing visa applications will be reduced to 20 in the coming weeks, according to three U.S. officials and an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. There is not yet a set date for the change, but it is expected in June, according to the officials, who were not authorized to comment to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move is part of the Trump administration’s effort to crack down on issuing both immigrant and non-immigrant visas as part of its broader aim to limit immigration to the U.S. and clamp down on those who travel on temporary visas but then overstay them. The administration also has scaled back personnel at embassies and consulates around the world.

On a conference call last Friday, U.S. diplomats, including consular chiefs, were told the U.S. would be scaling back its visa services across Africa, according to one of the officials who was on the call.

Under a directive approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, the State Department will reduce consular operations in all but 20 “hubs” in Africa, according to the officials and the memo.

Visa processing in Africa has already been affected by a travel ban on certain countries as well as a requirement for applicants to post up to $15,000 bond in order to apply and more recently by restrictions caused by the Ebola outbreak.

The new rules mean that a citizen of a non-hub country will have to travel to one of the 20 approved sites, which could pose formidable travel challenges and costs.

Consular sections in non-hub countries will stay open but be limited in the services they can offer. They will still be able to assist American citizens with passport renewals and emergency consular requests as well as special national interest cases and diplomatic visa applications.

The State Department did not address the specific issues in the memo but said it “is constantly evaluating its overseas operations in order to deploy taxpayer resources in a way that advances America’s priorities as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

It said this “includes a visa process that maintains rigorous standards of security screening and vetting and aligns resources and operational capacity with America’s national interests.”

According to the memo, the 20 hubs to remain open for all processing are: Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Accra, Ghana; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Cape Town, South Africa; Dakar, Senegal; Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania; Djibouti, Djibouti; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kampala, Uganda; Kigali, Rwanda; Kinshasa, Congo; Lagos, Nigeria; Lome, Togo; Luanda, Angola; Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; Port Louis, Mauritius; Praia, Cape Verde; and Yaounde, Cameroon.

___

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv.

By Jamie McGeever

ORLANDO, Florida, June 1 (Reuters) – Conflicting headlines on the U.S.-Iran ceasefire dominated world markets on Monday, with the big three U.S. stock indices eventually joining several key global benchmarks in an AI-driven rally to new highs after President Donald Trump said the two sides were still talking.

In my column today, I look at the so-called “K-shaped” U.S. economy. The personal saving rate has slumped to a historic low, while corporate America and the asset-owning rich are enjoying the fruits of the AI capex boom. Something has to give, right?

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets today.

1. Ceasefire very likely to end if Israeli attacks on Lebanon persist, Iranian TV says

2. AI giant Anthropic confidentially files for U.S. IPO as investors bet big on AI future

3. Nvidia launches new chip to bring AI directly to personal computers

4. Factories face soaring costs as Iran war causes supply shocks

5. INSIGHT-A bachelor’s in rare earths? In China, there are schools for that

Today’s Key Market Moves

• STOCKS: MSCI World, MSCI Asia ex-Japan, MSCI EM index, Wall Street’s big three indexes, Japan’s Nikkei all hit new highs. South Korea +4%. Europe, UK fall.

• SECTORS/SHARES: Only two of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors rise – tech +2.5%, energy +1.9%. The rest fall, utilities leading the way -3%. Dell, Oracle both +10%, Nvidia +6%, Micron tops $1,000. Hewlett Packard +35% in after-hours trade following results. Qualcomm -9%, Meta and Intel -5%.

• FX: Dollar up broadly, USD/JPY up towards 160.00. NZD, SEK -1%, biggest G10 movers; ARS -1.5%, biggest EM decliner. Bitcoin -3% to lowest since mid-April.

• BONDS: Treasury yields up as much as 3 bps.

• COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil spikes: Brent +5%, WTI +6%. U.S. natgas -3%. Gold -1%.

Today’s Talking Points

* IPO mAnIa

Wall Street’s AI frenzy went up a notch on Monday. Nvidia unveiled a new chip that puts AI capabilities directly into laptops and desktops, and Anthropic said it has confidentially filed for a U.S. market listing. OpenAI is preparing a similar filing, and SpaceX is set to price its IPO later this month.

That’s potentially up to $4 trillion of market cap valuation at IPO in the coming weeks. Even though the value of shares floated will be much lower, the questions still remain – will the market be able to absorb these new issues, and is this a sign that the market is at or near a frothy top?

* Everybody’s talking about ISM

Figures on Monday showed that U.S. manufacturing activity is growing at its fastest pace in four years, driven by AI capex. This may be something of a surprise to the casual observer (not the AI capex bit) – aren’t tariffs, inflation, and record-low consumer confidence meant to be a dead weight on the economy?

Maybe firms are front-loading orders ahead of a downturn, and executives do say war, tariffs and price pressures are major concerns. Still, factories are doing brisk business, to the surprise of many economists, if the U.S. economic surprises index is any guide.

* Leadership

Monday’s session on Wall Street was remarkable. The big three indexes – S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow – all hit new highs. Yet only two of the 11 sectors on the S&P 500, the broadest measure of the market, actually rose: tech +2.4% and energy +2%. The other nine sectors all fell, some significantly – utilities slumped 3% and consumer discretionaries fell 2.6%.

Narrow leadership in U.S. stocks is nothing new, but this is pretty remarkable, especially considering some big tech names like Meta, Intel and Qualcomm fell between 5% and 9%. Don’t rule out another tech-led rise on Tuesday, after Hewlett Packard shares soared 35% after the bell on Monday.

What could move markets tomorrow?

• Developments in the Middle East

• Australia current account (Q1)

• South Korea inflation (May)

• Euro zone inflation (May, flash estimate)

• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks to House of Lords, BoE rate-setter Megan Greene speaks at separate event

• U.S. ‘JOLTS’ job openings (April)

• U.S. Federal Reserve officials scheduled to speak include Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack

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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Nia Williams)

Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates is acquiring a minority ownership stake of the Seattle Kraken, the franchise announced Monday.

Terms of the deal, which is pending NHL approval, were not disclosed.

The partnership pairs French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates who has a net worth of $30 billion according to Forbes, with the Kraken’s ownership group (One Roof Sports and Entertainment), which is helmed by Samantha Holloway.

“As a longtime Seattle resident, it means a lot to me to have the chance to make this investment in our city and its future,” French Gates said in a press release. “I’m a big believer in the power of sports, and after many years of cheering on Seattle from the sidelines, I’m excited to have an even deeper connection to the Seattle sports community. Seattle is an engine of innovation in so many ways, and Samantha Holloway’s leadership of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena reflects that.”

“I am excited to welcome Melinda to our ownership group,” Holloway added in the press release. “Melinda is an impressive business leader, philanthropist and importantly, a Seattle sports fan. We share many of the same values, including a deep commitment to Seattle and a belief in building organizations that create lasting impact.”

The Kraken have made the playoffs just once in their first five campaigns since debuting for the 2021-22 season. The franchise hired a consulting firm, the Sportsology Group, in May to perform an external audit of the team’s hockey operations department.

–Field Level Media

By Jaspreet Singh

June 1 (Reuters) – Hewlett Packard Enterprise posted record second-quarter results on Monday, prompting it to accelerate its long-term financial goals by two years, as expansion of AI data centers boosts demand, sending its shares up 36% in extended trading.

HPE, which competes with Dell and Super Micro Computer, is benefiting as customers increasingly buy its servers and networking products to power AI applications such as ChatGPT.

U.S. tech giants including Alphabet and Amazon plan to spend over $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year, which would bolster demand for suppliers such as HPE.

That helped HPE to raise fiscal 2026 revenue growth outlook to between 29% and 33%, up from its prior expectations of 17% to 22%. It now expects annual networking segment revenue growth of 72% to 75%, a sharp increase from 68% to 73%.

HPE reported record revenue growth of 40% to $10.68 billion, beating LSEG-compiled analysts’ average estimate of $9.79 billion. The adjusted earnings per share of 79 cents topped expectations of 53 cents.

“The strength of the quarter was largely driven by the performance of our traditional server business, which is really focused on enterprise customers,” CFO Marie Myers told Reuters.

She said the key difference this quarter was the anticipated shift where enterprises significantly adopted agentic AI as a core workload.

The company said it appointed Elliott Investment Management partner Christopher Hsu to its board on Monday under their cooperation agreement, which was announced in July last year.

HPE said its revised fiscal 2026 ranges for adjusted EPS and free cash flow are higher than what it projected the company would achieve by fiscal 2028.

It raised annual adjusted EPS in the range of $3.35 to $3.45, compared with an earlier projection of $2.30 to $2.50. It had anticipated adjusted EPS of at least $3.00 for fiscal 2028.

The company reported more than $6.3 billion in total AI backlog, inclusive of AI systems and networks for AI, with 61% of this mix secured from government and large business clients.

“We do expect to ship and convert significantly more AI revenue in the back half of the year. We expect that actually to peak in Q4,” Myers said.

HPE also introduced a fiscal 2027 growth framework, expecting revenue growth of 8% to 12%, above estimates of 5.8%.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

By Fabian Cambero and Alexander Villegas

SANTIAGO, June 1 (Reuters) – Chile’s far-right President Jose Antonio Kast, who took office in March, promised a legislative agenda that prioritizes fighting crime, cutting spending and boosting economic growth in his first national address on Monday at the start of Congress’ session.

Speaking from Congress in the port city of Valparaiso, he also announced measures to strengthen the police, tighten immigration controls and strip social benefits from some people with criminal convictions.

“Starting tomorrow we’re going to move forward with a very intense legislative and administrative agenda,” Kast said.

The speech came at a defining moment for Kast. He is seeking to regain momentum after an early drop in approval ratings and cabinet turmoil. Delivering on his campaign promises on security and the economy is seen as critical to shoring up his political base.

As Kast spoke, protesters clashed with police on the streets of Valparaiso.

“Our government’s main goal, and there is no other, is that when our mandate is over, Chileans live better, are safer and have more opportunities,” Kast said.

Kast also announced bills to reform electricity rates, reduce bureaucracy and modernize medium and small-scale mining. These follow a bill already in Congress designed to stimulate economic growth and boost job creation.

Kast overwhelmingly won the 2025 presidential runoff with promises to crack down on crime and immigration.

But since he took office in March, his approval rating has fallen from 57% to 38%, according to pollster Cadem.

One of Kast’s first big challenges came weeks into his presidency when the Iran war led his government to sharply raise fuel prices.

Kast also fired his security minister and another top cabinet member in May after mounting criticism.

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Alexander Villegas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

By Julien Pretot

PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) – Aryna Sabalenka continued her relentless charge towards a maiden French Open crown as she overcame the resistance of Naomi Osaka 7-5 6-3 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals.

In the first women’s night-session match at Roland Garros in three years, the Belarusian world number one recovered from a shaky start to reach the last eight.

Sabalenka, who has now reached at least the quarter-finals in her last 14 Grand Slam appearances, set up a last-eight meeting with Russian Diana Shnaider.

“She is such a great player, she plays a super aggressive tennis. I’m happy with how I was able to put back the pressure on her. It’s amazing to play the night session in front of all of you guys,” Sabalenka said on court before showing off a ‘Moon Walk’ to the Philippe Chatrier crowd.

“I’m super happy with my serve. I’m super pleased overall with the performance today.”

Osaka opened a 2-0 lead courtesy of a Sabalenka double fault but the Belarusian immediately broke back and stole her opponent’s serve decisively for 6-5 lead, whipping a powerful service return that the 16th seed could not control, her backhand failing to clear the net.

Following a tough hold for 3-3, Sabalenka broke for 4-3, ending a long rally with a subtle half volley.

Osaka, who was playing in the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time, did not have more in the tank and she lost the remaining games, bowing out on Sabalenka’s first match point.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Getting to the NBA Finals proves that the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs have made plenty of smart moves along the way.

You need a star, like a Jalen Brunson or a Victor Wembanyama. They need some help. They need the right coach.

But this finals matchup, which starts Wednesday in San Antonio, also shows that there’s no one way to get all those things done. Of the 10 players that the Spurs are most likely to have in the regular rotation for this series, six were drafted by San Antonio. Of the 10 most likely to appear for the Knicks, only one was drafted by New York.

It’s Biggest Market vs. Smaller Market. Shopping vs. Drafting. Knicks vs. Spurs isn’t just a clash for the NBA title, it’s a clash in styles as well — with Knicks President Leon Rose seeming to constantly tinker until finding the right mix, and the Spurs building through the draft instead.

“I’ve said it before, I’ll keep saying it: Leon and his staff have done a freaking fantastic, fantastic job,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said.

Whether it was LeBron James, Kevin Durant or some other megastar, there was always hope that someone would eventually come save the Knicks — who are in the finals for the first time since 1999. They missed the playoffs 16 times in the 27 seasons that followed, including a nine-year stretch (and it wasn’t that long ago) where they failed to win a single playoff series. Whatever the approach was, it wasn’t working.

Constructing a championship contender takes good luck — the Spurs know that part well, with a slew of good lottery fortunes including the one that landed them Wembanyama in 2023 — but also good leadership. It takes bold decisions, such as committing more than $100 million to a former second-round pick in Brunson who had largely been a backup in Dallas, or trading a whopping five first-round picks to land Mikal Bridges, who has never even been an All-Star but has become an integral part of this Knicks run.

“It took a long time for us to get here,” Spurs forward Keldon Johnson said. “It took a village.”

The Knicks can say the same. They just took a different route.

Rose was hired in March 2020. He was a longtime agent, and James was one of the players once on his talent roster. Rose’s arrival was right near the end of a typically turbulent season in New York, when the coach (David Fizdale) had been fired early in the season, and later the president who fired him (Steve Mills) was also ousted.

One of Rose’s first moves was to hire the coach who would set the organization’s standard and culture — Tom Thibodeau. And Thibodeau won, though evidently didn’t win enough. So, the Knicks turned to Brown this season, another example of the constant tinkering.

The Spurs, meanwhile, embrace continuity. They haven’t had a coaching search in more than three decades; Gregg Popovich named himself coach in 1996 and when he had a stroke in November 2024, Mitch Johnson replaced him on an interim basis. Johnson got the job full-time last spring, and it was never a question that the Spurs were going in that direction.

“This team,” Johnson said, “has now been pretty damn consistent for a long time.”

Not the Knicks, who became a league laughingstock.

Hall of Famers such as Isiah Thomas and Phil Jackson were given the keys to the franchise, only to crash it. Jeff Hornacek lost more than 100 games in two seasons, and Derek Fisher (96) and Fizdale (83) would have if they’d gotten to finish their second.

Free agents such as Joakim Noah flopped. High draft picks (Frank Ntilikina, Jordan Hill, Kevin Knox) were busts, and even when the Knicks got something right, such as drafting Kristaps Porzingis, they were so dysfunctional that he wanted out. They were a league-worst 17-65 in 2018-19, throwing lineups on the floor that included the likes of Emmanuel Mudiay, Lance Thomas, Noah Vonleh, Damyean Dotson and Allonzo Trier.

The summer before Rose arrived had been another massive miss in free agency for the Knicks. Durant and Kyrie Irving not only passed but went together to Brooklyn, and suddenly it seemed the Knicks weren’t even the biggest deal in New York. It was similar to 2010, when the Knicks positioned themselves to sign two stars but watched James and Chris Bosh team up with Dwyane Wade in Miami.

The Knicks wanted to be the team playing the Heat in big playoff matchups back then. They watched the Spurs play that Heat team twice in the NBA Finals instead.

That Spurs era ended — Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili all retired — and the rebuild started. The ping-pong balls gave them Wembanyama, who made all things possible.

But many other moves, while not as flashy, were savvy.

Consider: in 2023, Philadelphia waived Julian Champagnie to sign Mac McClung before the dunk contest at All-Star weekend. McClung has appeared in 17 NBA games, while Champagnie made 18 3-pointers in the Western Conference finals. Advantage, Spurs.

“Everybody says it’s all Victor, and don’t get me wrong, he’s unbelievable,” former Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said earlier this season. “But that’s a team they’ve put together. It’s not just Victor. It’s a team.”

The Knicks tried other flashy moves, like the 2019 summer where they got Julius Randle in free agency and RJ Barrett with the No. 3 pick in the draft. They eventually got turned into other moves; Barrett and Immanuel Quickley were dealt to Toronto in 2023 for OG Anunoby and Randle was part of the package that brought Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota to New York in a blockbuster on the eve of the 2024-25 season.

Along the way, Josh Hart — who had already played for three other teams — was acquired in a 2023 trade in which Rose sent out Cam Reddish, a former top-10 pick who isn’t even in the NBA anymore. For Anunoby, who had been playing in the same division, it was clear that the Knicks were building something.

“Definitely progression,” Anunoby said, adding, “getting better and better each year.”

Rose doesn’t talk about it. Staying out of the spotlight, he hasn’t done interviews with Knicks reporters for five years and declined comment through a spokesman for this story.

But here the Knicks and Spurs are. The Finals. Different paths, same goal.

“I’m glad that this year we’re seeing ourselves start to mature,” Towns said, “and round out what the vision was from Day 1.”

___

Reynolds reported from San Antonio.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba