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The playoff run that ended with the Knicks winning their first title in more than 50 years featured the biggest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals, which was capped off with a clutch tip-in by OG Anunoby. The ball that was used in that game was expected to fetch millions of dollars after being listed at auction, but that will not be the case after it was called off at the last minute.
The Knicks took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals this year after the Spurs were unable to capitalize on their home-court advantage, and San Antonio knew it was going to be entering incredibly hostile territory when the series headed to Madison Square Garden.
However, the visiting team managed to flip the script with a win in Game 3, and all signs pointed to them evening things up after they headed into the locker room with a 27-point lead at halftime in Game 4.
Prior to that point, the biggest comeback in the history of the NBA Finals was the 24-point hole the Celtics crawled out of against the Lakers in 2008.
That was no longer the case once the final horn sounded, as the Knicks surged in the second half before OG Anunoby cemented himself as an NYC legend by tipping in a three-pointer Jaylen Brunson missed to score what ended up being the game-winning bucket.
The shot was dubbed the “Hand of OG” (a play on the infamous goal Diego Maradona scored against England at the World Cup in 1986), and the ball he touched was the crown jewel of an NBA Finals auction that kicked off on Tuesday before it was taken off the block right before it got underway.
The NBA opted to give the Knicks the ball from OG Anunoby’s tip-in instead of auctioning it off
In 2023, the NBA partnered with Sotheby’s to make the historic auction house the official peddler of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia the league has the right to resell.
That includes the basketballs that are technically its property, which was the case with the one that was used during Game 4 of the most recent NBA Finals. It was one of three dozen items from that series that were part of an auction that began at 10 AM on Tuesday morning, and it was expected to fetch the most of any of them with an estimate of around $3 million.
However, Darren Rovell revealed the lot was removed around 30 minutes before the auction got underway, as the NBA released a statement acknowledging that development and saying the Knicks will retain ownership of what it positioned as “a lasting piece of franchise history.”
BREAKING: 30 minutes before the @Sothebys NBA Finals Auction was to begin (10am ET), the OG Game 4 ball has been PULLED.
The ball will go to the New York Knicks.
We have obtained a statement from an NBA spokesperson: pic.twitter.com/tdNq6RdbZR
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 30, 2026
It seems safe to assume the Knicks were lobbying for possession of the ball in question behind the scenes, and this definitely raises some questions about how the NBA decides what piece of memorabilia it offers to private collectors as opposed to pieces of basketball history that remain in the hands of the players and teams responsible for making it.
Neither the NBA nor Sotheby’s has been super transparent about how the proceeds of their auctions are distributed, and while it seems safe to assume they’re funneled to charity (which was the case with a Nike AirMax auction earlier this year), the sales still come off like a bit of a cash grab.
There’s also no telling if other teams have made similar requests only to have them rebuffed by the league, but it will be interesting to see if more squads get a bit more assertive when it comes to reclaiming potential collectibles.