The Oklahoma City Thunder are one win away from the opportunity to defend their NBA Championship against the New York Knicks. It will be a tall order for the incumbent to hang onto the Larry O’Brien trophy, and not just because they first must defeat the tallest player in the National Basketball Association, 7’4″ San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, one final time (out of potentially two remaining games). It’s also not solely because the Knicks starting five, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns, are playing lights-out basketball on behalf of New York City (the bench has been amazing too). No, the main obstacle standing in the way of repeat-NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a comic-relief WWE wrestler.
Danhausen is not your typical WWE Superstar. Sure, he can wrestle some, but these days, Donovan Andrew Danhausen is the main comedy act on the main roster. That’s no slight: Danhausen entertains children and adults alike in what is a key role for a well-rounded professional wrestling locker room. Also, he sells a shitload of merch. In his brief time in WWE, Danhausen has already haunted (and defeated) the league’s former court-jester extraordinaire, The Miz (Miz, I’d argue, is the better in-ring performer), as well as YouTuber IShowSpeed, (Chad) Gable, Dominik Mysterio and Kit Wilson. Not exactly the Four Horsemen, but still.
Danhausen’s greatest performance since his awkward Feb. 28 WWE debut (it… did not land) has been, with all due respect to Mitchell Robinson, as sixth man for the New York Knicks. Not literally, of course: Danhausen is 5’10” and like 180 lbs. in full makeup.
On April 17, one day before the 2026 NBA Playoffs tipped off and two days prior to WrestleMania 41, Danhausen appeared on ESPN’s morning show First Take, “cursing” the Knicks by way of diehard fan Stephen A. Smith. (ESPN paid handsomely for WWE’s premium live event rights, like WrestleMania, in the U.S.) Though the curse-ed Knicks won Game 1 the following evening against the Atlanta Hawks, they then dropped the next two games against the underdog in dramatic fashion — the back-to-back playoff losses were by one point apiece, which is (quite remarkably) the first time that’s happened in NBA history.
If you are unfamiliar with Danhausen’s work, he is basically a weirdo demon of sorts who goes around putting hexes on his foes. Those curses are typically placed upon a wrestling opponent, and they usually play out in a way that satisfies Danhausen fans both comedically and competitively.
On April 28, Danhausen lifted the curse on the Knicks in a Cameo video. Danhausen subsequently cursed the Hawks, and later the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals opponent, the Cleveland Cavaliers (Miz’s team). New York has not lost since, rattling off 10 straight victories also in historic fashion to make the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. (Technically, the Knicks won the night before the Cameo was posted to X as well; it is unclear when Danhausen actually recorded the video.)
Early yesterday (ET), shortly after the Knicks completed their second-straight playoff sweep (the first being against the Philadelphia 76ers), Sportico reporter Lev Akabas tweeted: “The New York Knicks just played the most dominant 10-game stretch in NBA history, and it’s not even remotely close.”
Akabas brought the scatter diagram to prove it. The 2026 playoff Knicks have won their most recent 10 games by a +246 margin, blowing away the old record of +214 by the 1974 Milwaukee Bucks. The largest differential in what we’d consider the current NBA generation was previously +206 by the 2017 Golden State Warriors.
By the way, Akabas isn’t just charting the NBA Playoffs; he’s also charting the regular season. The fact that the Knicks’ streak has come against teams that, by virtue of making the playoffs, should be considered among the best in the Eastern Conference only further punctuates the point. It has been an inexplicable run — some may say supernatural. That’s sort of Danhausen’s thing.
Both the WWE Shop and the NBA Store have capitalized on this moment, selling officially licensed Danhausen/Knicks shirts featuring the character’s painted face, the Knicks logo and the words “You Are Un-Cursed.” It remains to be seen if Danhausen will curse the winner of the Spurs/Thunder series, but he also almost certainly will. We asked WWE, they didn’t play ball — they’re probably saving it for some ESPN moment.
Very nice, very evil.
