One Piece’s Luffy Joins NBA Champions, New York Knicks

Minutes after the New Your Knicks team were crowned the 2026 National Basketball Association (NBA) Champions on Saturday, Bandai’s Tamashii Nations celebrated by noting that it will release a New York Knicks version of its S.H.Figuarts figure for One Piece lead character Monkey D. Luffy. The figure will ship this October for 9,900 yen (about US$62) as part of One Piece‘s NBA collaboration.

… The catch is that pre-orders for the figure launched back in April 3 and already ended on April 26. Plus, Tamashii Nations covered its bases by also making variants in Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Boston Celtics colors (but oddly, not the San Antonio Spurs, the Knicks’ eventual opponent in the NBA Finals).

Before these S.H.Figuarts figures, One Piece promoted its collaboration with the NBA in February 2025 with a new animation short featuring the Straw Hat Pirates from One Piece dressed in Lakers uniforms. One Piece expanded its collaboration to the full NBA in November 2025 with the announcement of a One Piece x NBA special figure collection, although these initial figures were static and non-poseable, unlike the upcoming poseable S.H.Figuarts ones.

The Knicks beat the Spurs in five games of the NBA Finals. The Knicks won the first two games with the scores of 105-95 and 105-104. The Spurs fought back in game 3 by beating the Knicks 115-111. The Knicks recovered to take game 4 at home by 107-106. The Knicks clinched the series on Saturday by beating the Spurs 94-90. This is the first time the Knicks have won the NBA Finals in 53 years.

Source: Premium Bandai