Jalen Brunson joins Knicks legends with NBA title | USMNT among early World Cup standouts

Good morning, everyone! What a weekend we just experienced in the sports world. It's Carter Bahns with you this Monday to break down all the major events, from the NBA Finals to the World Cup, and from the Stanley Cup Final to UFC Freedom 250.

Congratulations to those of you who root for the Knicks and Hurricanes! The championships your teams won over the past two days were a long time coming. Here's hoping the USMNT also secures some hardware this summer. That looks more possible now in the wake of their tremendous World Cup opener.

There's so much to cover that we ought to get straight to it.

1. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks to their first NBA championship in 53 years. The wait in New York is finally over. The Knicks secured the NBA title with a 94-90 win over the Spurs in Game 5 on Saturday. On an individual level, nobody was a bigger winner in the NBA Finals than Jalen Brunson. His 45 points in Game 5 were the most ever by a Knicks player in any Finals contest and that effort earned him the NBA Finals MVP award. Brunson is now part of a legendary group of just eight players to win that award, an NBA title and a college national championship in one lifetime, and his achievements in the pros now stack up against the best players in Knicks history. If you want to see Brunson and the rest of the squad at their championship parade, here are all the details for Thursday's event in Manhattan.
2. The USMNT is off to a roaring start in the World Cup. The United States could not have asked for a much better opening match. With a 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday, the USMNT is already in command of Group D. Mauricio Pochettino finally had his full complement of stars and drew up a dominant attacking scheme, and just about everyone in the lineup turned in stellar individual performances . If the Americans make a deep run in the tournament, it looks like Folarin Balogun (who shined in his World Cup debut with two goals) will be a major catalyst. Christian Pulisic will also remain integral to the USMNT's success and said his substitution at halftime was merely precautionary. Looking forward, the United States' odds to win the World Cup are already half as long as they were heading into the tournament.
3. The Hurricanes are Stanley Cup champions. For the second time in franchise history and first time in two decades, Carolina stands atop the NHL . A 3-0 win over the Golden Knights on Sunday put a bow on the hockey season. As Austin Nivison noted in his takeaways,  Brandon Bussi became the first rookie goalie to shut out an opponent in a Cup-clinching game since 1937. Rod Brind'Amour is also now a champion as both a player and a coach. The Hurricanes finally got over the playoff hump after coming up short of the title each of the previous seven years, and they figure to be right back in the mix next season.
4. Justin Gaethje and Cyril Gane won titles at UFC Freedom 250. Weather halted the start of the event, but once the rain passed, UFC Freedom 250 featured incredible pageantry and an unforgettable night of MMA action on the South Lawn of the White House. Justin Gaethje pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history over Ilia Topuria in the main event to become the undisputed lightweight champion and he picked up $825,000 for his efforts . In the co-main event, Cyril Gane earned a second-round stoppage against former two-division champion Alex Pereira to secure the interim heavyweight title. See the results from all five other fights: Sean O'Malley def. Aiemann Zahabi, Josh Hokit def. Derrick Lewis, Mauricio Ruffy def. Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal def. Kyle Daukaus, Diego Lopes def. Steve Garcia . You'll want to check out Brent Brookhouse's takeaways wrapping up the UFC's historic night.
5. Bud Cauley earned his first PGA Tour win at the RBC Canadian Open. In addition to the career landmark, Cauley clinched an invitation to the 2027 Masters and secured a spot in the top 60 of the Official World Golf Rankings. That latter achievement means he also earned an exemption into this week's U.S. Open. Cauley shot a 65 in the final round to jump into the lead and to pull away for a two-stroke win. It was a cathartic victory for the 36-year-old, who ranked fifth among active players for the most PGA Tour starts (238) without a win. And he almost died in 2018 in a horrific car accident that required three years of rehab.

It will take some time for the thrill of such an exciting series to wear off. But even just a couple of days removed from the greatest five-game NBA Finals ever, it is not too early to look ahead to next season and beyond.

Like many of the all-time greats who preceded him, Victor Wembanyama will feel the sting of this series until he finally reaches the mountaintop. What is clear is that he and the Spurs are way ahead of schedule and will likely have numerous bites at the apple in the years to come. What is not quite so certain are the steps it will take to break through and win a championship. Our Sam Quinn has an idea, though, and it starts with a possible De'Aaron Fox trade.

• Quinn: "He'd have to wind up somewhere reasonably desirable, and the Spurs would not trade him just to get off his contract. Even in the worst-case scenario in which his deal ages poorly, it only overlaps with Dylan Harper's eventual rookie extension for one year. They have time to sort this out, so if they move him, it will be for positive value."

And then, of course, there is the quest for a repeat. The NBA produced eight different champions in each of the past eight years. Can the Knicks snap that streak and win again? Their roster is about to get a whole lot more expensive, but talent retention should not be impossible.

Among those eight recent champions, Quinn argues the Knicks have the second-best chances to win another title in 2027:

1. Thunder
2. Knicks
3. Celtics

The Knicks' championship should also give hope to franchises in other sports who have gone decades without winning their respective leagues. We identified the MLB teams most likely to snap their World Series droughts and the NFL teams that could finally win the Super Bowl.

The first four days of the World Cup were a spectacle to behold. The largest tournament in FIFA history -- both by geography and the number of teams in the field -- had the feel of a historically impassioned event. Not only were the fans in prime form, but a few of the teams in action over the opening weekend looked like threats to advance deep into the bracket.

Our James Benge tells us not to overreact to Germany blowing out Curacao by a ridiculous 7-1, though. While the Germans posted the most lopsided win of the tournament thus far, they also allowed Curacao to become the smallest nation to ever score a World Cup goal.

• Benge: "For a time Curacao had the Germans rocked -- perhaps this game would have been slightly different in a World Cup without hydration/ad breaks -- and even when the game was long since lost they were poking at gaps behind the German fullbacks. They only emerged in fleeting moments, but there were vulnerabilities here that superior opposition will fancy themselves to continually expose."

A few other results could be indicative of what lies ahead:

• Without the injured Neymar, Brazil had to settle for one point in its opener. A 1-1 draw with Morocco showed their limitations and proved Morocco's 2022 semifinal run was no fluke.
• Qatar recorded the most surprising result of the weekend when they earned a draw with Switzerland and earned the first World Cup point in their nation's history.
• Even in a 2-1 win over Czechia, the great Son Heung-Min continued to struggle, raising questions about South Korea's ceiling.

The White Sox are up to No. 7 in Matt Snyder's MLB power rankings. Let me repeat myself. The White Sox -- two years removed from the worst season in franchise history -- are the seventh-best club in baseball as we approach the midway point of the season. I'm as surprised as you are. Snyder is surprised too, and he's the one who builds these rankings!

• Snyder: "If someone would've asked heading into the season what's the highest I'd be ranking the White Sox, there's no way I would've said in the top 10. I did stress multiple times that they wouldn't come in last, but that was the extent of my positivity for the South Siders. They are blowing past expectations and don't appear to be slowing down."

This is, in part, the doing of Munetaka Murakami. But Chicago proved over the past two weeks that it is more than just the rookie slugger. During his absence, the White Sox took one game against the Phillies and won series against both the Braves and Dodgers.

That's a statement worthy of moving into the top 10:

7. White Sox (↑4)
8. Guardians (↓3)
9. Cardinals (↓1)
10. Mariners (↓1)

• James Harden was arrested for unlawful carrying of a weapon. And in an even more serious case, Jonathon Cooper was arrested again and faces four new charges, including domestic violence.
• The Guardians could be without José Ramírez for much of the summer after he broke his left hamate bone.
• Trade rumors surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo picked back up ahead of the NBA Draft.
• The College World Series is off and rolling. No. 5 North Carolina is one win away from the championship series, while Ole Miss was the first team eliminated.
• Jacob Misiorowski threw the first 15-strikeout "Maddux" in MLB's pitch-tracking era. Yoshinobu Yamamoto nearly also made history but lost a perfect game bid after 7.2 innings.
• With Adolis García out at least two months with a torn lat muscle, the Phillies should consider these possible trades.
• The NFL closed its investigation into Stefon Diggs and cleared him for 2026, so here are five possible landing spots for the veteran receiver.
• Tarik Skubal returned to the mound following elbow surgery. His under-the-hood numbers painted a better picture than his final line.
• Take a look at the Seahawks' Super Bowl ring, which is the largest in NFL history.
• Gunther selected Sami Zayn as the special guest referee for next week's undisputed WWE title rematch with Cody Rhodes.
• The NCAA says the Protect College Sports Act would override the Brendan Sorsby ruling, but the SEC remains unsatisfied with the current draft of the bill.
• Donovan McNabb Jr. committed to UNLV, and suddenly we all feel old.
• In our latest MLB mock draft, the Pirates select the best college pitcher in the class. Sound familiar?
• Now that NFL minicamps are nearly complete, we analyzed some offseason overreactions.
• Our bracketology outlook for college basketball's 2026-27 season got a refresh following the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline.

⚽ World Cup: Spain vs. Cape Verde, noon on Fox
⚾ College World Series: No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 6 Texas, 2 p.m. on ESPN
⚽ World Cup: Belgium vs. Egypt, 3 p.m. on Fox
⚽ World Cup: Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay, 6 p.m. on FS1
⚾ Marlins at Phillies, 6:40 p.m. on Peacock
⚾ Royals at Nationals, 6:45 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
⚾ College World Series: No. 3 Georgia vs. Oklahoma, 7 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ Mets at Reds, 7:10 p.m. on MLB Network
🏀 Aces at Wings, 8 p.m. on USA Network
🤼 WWE Raw, 8 p.m. on Netflix
⚽ World Cup: Iran vs. New Zealand, 9 p.m. on FS1
🏀 Sparks at Valkyries, 10 p.m. on NBC Sports Network
⚾ Rays at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. on ESPN