The Wednesday edition of NYT Connections Sports Edition arrives with puzzle #618, and it's practically dripping with hardwood floor polish. Today's grid is an NBA love letter, dunk contests, championship banners, Finals MVPs, and a Villanova legend who keeps collecting hardware.
What Makes Connections Sports Edition Tick
For newcomers, NYT Connections Sports Edition presents 16 sports-themed words that must be sorted into four thematic groups of four. The twist?
You're limited to four mistakes, and the color-coded difficulty system (yellow being easiest, purple being trickiest) means surface-level connections often mislead.
Connections Sports Edition brings the same addictive puzzle format to the world of athletics, featuring athletes, teams, sports terminology, and legendary moments. The game's genius lies in its red herrings, words that could fit multiple sports categories but belong in only one.
Today's Grid at a Glance
Here are the 16 words staring back at you in puzzle #618:
SPURS | KNICKS | STUFF | JAM
WEMBY | VILLANOVA | DEUCE | KAT
11 | SLAM | DUNK | SWIPA
BULLS | ECF MVP | CELTICS | LAKERS
A seemingly random collection that somehow connects into four perfect categories.
Strategic Hints (No Spoilers Yet)
Yellow Category Nudge: These four words describe the same violent, rim-rattling action, and none of them involve a trampoline.
Green Category Clue: These teams don't just have NBA titles, they have a specific number of them that puts them in an exclusive fraternity.
Blue Category Hint: Four players currently competing for the Larry O'Brien Trophy, identified by what their teammates and commentators actually call them.
Purple Category Teaser: Everything here traces back to one player, think alma mater, current team, jersey number, and a trophy he just won.
The Full Solutions
Last chance to solve independently: answers below
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Yellow (Dunking Synonyms): DUNK, JAM, SLAM, STUFF
Four ways to say "throw the ball through the hoop with extreme prejudice." "Stuff" is the deep cut here, old-school heads know it's been a basketball verb since the Dr. J era.
Green (Teams With 5+ NBA Titles): BULLS, CELTICS, LAKERS, SPURS
The NBA's royalty: Boston (18), Los Angeles (17), Chicago (6), and San Antonio (5). That "SPURS" in the grid isn't just a horse reference, it's a not-so-subtle nod to Tim Duncan's dynasty.
Blue (Nicknames of Players in the NBA Finals): DEUCE, KAT, SWIPA, WEMBY
The 2026 NBA Finals are underway, and these four nicknames belong to the stars on the floor. "Wemby" (Victor Wembanyama), "KAT" (Karl-Anthony Towns), "Deuce" (Jalen Brunson's on-court alias), and "Swipa" (De'Aaron Fox), all active in this year's championship series.
Purple (Associated With Jalen Brunson): 11, ECF MVP, KNICKS, VILLANOVA
Everything purple orbits Jalen Brunson: his Villanova college roots, his current team (Knicks), his jersey number (11), and the Eastern Conference Finals MVP award he earned this postseason. If you didn't connect "Deuce" and "11" as two separate Brunson references, this category was a brick wall.
The Verdict
Puzzle #618 registers as moderate difficulty with a sting in the tail. Yellow falls quickly for anyone who recognizes the dunk synonyms, while green requires knowing which NBA franchises have the trophy case to back it up.
Blue separates the true sports buffs from casual fans, you need to know who's actually playing in the 2026 Finals and what the league calls them. Purple, predictably, is the streak-ender, requiring serious lateral thinking about sports terminology and one specific player's entire résumé.
The real trap? "SPURS" and "KNICKS" look like they belong together as team names, but they're split across two categories, and "11" could fool you into thinking it's a jersey number category when it's really a Brunson-only connection. "SLAM" and "DUNK" are obvious, but "STUFF" is the word that makes solvers hesitate, it's a legitimate dunk synonym, but it sounds like it belongs in a garbage bin.
Reset and Repeat
Tomorrow's puzzle drops at midnight in your timezone. Until then, reflect on today's performance: did you catch the Brunson web, or did Villanova and ECF MVP leave you guessing?
The beauty lies not in perfection but in training your brain to spot these hidden sports connections.
For now, puzzle #618 is solved. See you at midnight for round #619.
