The 2026 NBA Finals Showed 24 Million People What I Tell my Clients in Almost Every Session
When OG Anunoby tipped in the game-winner in Game 4 of the Finals, the interviewer wanted a celebration. Instead Anunoby gave him a flat voice and no smile, the job wasn't done yet. People mocked him for his calm. Earlier in that same game, Victor Wembanyama baited Mitchell Robinson into a foul and leaned in with "I'm in your head, boy." One of those players is 22. The other is 28. That six-year gap explains more than you’d think, because somewhere inside it is the line where the human brain finally finishes wiring itself.
I'm still basking in the enjoyment of the Knicks' championship win last month. I was a die-hard fan in the 90s, and I still vividly remember the playoff game that got interrupted by the OJ chase. Since my kids fell in love with basketball a few years ago, it's been a joy to get back into it. I even managed to convert my LeBron-obsessed nine-year-old into a Knicks fan, which may be the most impressive thing I did all season.
What I kept noticing this past season is how much of the game is mental. A bad foul call, a missed buzzer-beater, a run of bricked free throws, a stupid comment from an opponent: any of it can shake your confidence and scramble your composure. That was on full display as the Knicks battled the Spurs, and the thing separating the two teams under pressure wasn't just talent. It was emotional regulation.
Which brings me to executive function skills. EF is the set of mental skills that let you manage yourself and get things done: planning, focus, working memory, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Emotional regulation is the skill that lets you take a bad call or a taunt and not let it run the next possession. All of these skills reside in the prefrontal cortex, the frontmost part of the brain. And here's the catch. The prefrontal cortex is the last region to fully develop, usually not until your mid-20s.
Now look at who was on the floor. The Spurs ran out a starting five where almost no one's brain is finished: Dylan Harper at 20, Stephon Castle at 21, Julian Champagnie at 24 and Wembanyama at 22. The Knicks' core is a half-decade past that line: Brunson and Bridges at 29, Anunoby at 28, Towns at 30, Hart at 31. Throughout the playoffs Jalen Brunson kept a level head, showed almost nothing, and locked onto a single goal. Wemby, for all his once-in-a-generation talent, let his emotions get the best of him at exactly the wrong moments. Sure, trash talk is part of basketball. But the contrast in how these two teams held themselves together under the most stressful conditions of their careers was stark, and a lot of it comes down to age.
Take Wembanyama specifically. He's a 22-year-old, 7-foot-4 phenom in his third NBA season, and he's at least three years away from a fully developed prefrontal cortex. That is, assuming he doesn't have ADHD, in which case the timeline stretches further.
Does Wemby know his executive function skills are trainable, that he doesn't have to wait for biology to catch up? Who knows. But if you know a team, or a person, who could use some sharpening in that department, consider me the Mike Brown of executive function coaching. Let's talk.
Knicks in 5!
