It’s Now or Never for the New York Knicks

It’s Now or Never for the New York Knicks

For the first time in maybe 30 years, this upcoming NBA season for the New York Knicks is going to be championship or bust. When you take into account how expensive this roster is, their expectations going into the year, and how wide openen the Eastern Conference is, the Knicks should be a realistic team that can make it out of the East. And if they do not, it’s probably going to be a failure of a season depending if they are healthy at that point of the year. Vibes were sky-high going into the 2025 season for the New York Knicks, but then they kind of shake things up late in the 2024 off seasonason after acquiring Mikuel Bridges in June. They lost Isaiah Hardenstein in July. They decided to trade away Joyous Randall who’s been the life of the New York Knicks and brought them out of some dark days early in the 2020s. They also sent along fellow Villanova teammate of Brunson Bridges and Hart, Dante Devenzo, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Carl Anthony Towns. This trade shocked the NBA landscape and the Knicks had high expectations going into 2025, but they were still looked at the team behind the Boston Celtics who were the overwhelming favorite to come out of the East in 2025. Nobody really expected Cleveland to emerge as they did last season where they surpassed the Knicks to be the best team that can rival the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. And it felt like the 2025 Knicks really didn’t reach their expectations in the regular season. They still ended up being a top five team in terms of offensive rating, but they weren’t a top 10 team defensive rating, which has been the identity of the Tom Tibido New York Knicks. They were a 10th ranked defensive team in 2024. That dropped to 14th in 2025. They were the eighth ranked team in terms of net rating. And there were some highs of the 2025 regular season Knicks, and there were some lows. They ended up not winning a single game against the best regular season teams. They didn’t win a single game against Cleveland, against Boston, or against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But it still felt like everybody was having somewhat of a career year. In my opinion, it was the best year out of Jaylen Brunson in a Knicks uniform. Carl Anthony Towns arguably had the best year of his career. He was an all-star starter back on an allNBA team. ONobi was healthy for most of the year and averaged a career-high 18 points. Muel Bridges felt like he did take a little bit of a step back defensively, but still played all 82 games, 37 minutes, and gave the Knicks 17 and a half points on good efficiency. Josh Hart averaged career highs across the board. But it really was their bench that didn’t give a lot of Knicks fans confidence going into the 2025 playoffs. Miles McBride was up and down throughout the regular season. He also missed 18 games. Mitchell Robinson yet again was hurt to start off the year. He only played 17 games and it was a hodgepodge of names you saw throughout the season. Precious Aua, Dylan Wright who they acquired at the deadline, Landry Shamid campaign. In the first half, it was Jericho Sims, Errol Huporti who was Mr. Relevant of the 2024 draft. We saw a little bit of Tara Kolic, Pakcomi Dier, Matt Ryan, Marjan Bochamp, and Jacob Toppen. And this was a Knicks team that really wasn’t expected to walk over the Detroit Pistons. Some people thought they were being a little bit edgy and took the Pistons to beat the Knicks in round number one, but the Knicks did end up beating Detroit in six games. And all of those six games were pretty entertaining. The Knicks won by nine in game number one, having a late second half run. Then they lost by six at the Garden in game number two. They beat Detroit by two in a very entertaining game number three and one point again in game number four. So they won game three and game four by a combined three points. They would go on to lose game number five by three points and then beat Detroit by three in game number six. And nobody, and I mean nobody, expected the New York Knicks to beat the Boston Celtics in round number two. And the Knicks ended up beating them in six in part to Boston, going 25 of 100 from downtown in the first two games and choking both of those at the TD Garden. Boston would then go on to blow out the Knicks on a Saturday day game in game number three. But then the Knicks ended up beating Boston by eight in game number four. It looks like they were running away with a victory to go up three number one before the Jason Tatum injury. Boston blew out New York in game number five. And then New York returned the favor, blowing Boston out in game number six, advancing to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years. And they were going up against not the Cleveland Cavaliers we all thought were going to make it to the conference finals. It was going to be the Indiana Pacers, the team that eliminated the New York Knicks a year prior. And for about three and a half quarters, I was totally convinced the Knicks were going to be going to the NBA finals for the first time since 2000. And then Aaron E. Smith and Tyresese Halbert and happened. The Knicks choked the fourth quarter. They would go on to lose in overtime. Something the Milwaukee Bucks, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the OKC Thunder all experienced throughout the playoffs. Only the Thunder were able to respond from it. The Pacers would go on to beat the Knicks by five in game number two. Knicks beat them by six in game number three. Pacers won by nine in game number four, going up 3 to1. Knicks would go on to win game five, but it’s so hard to come back down 3 to1. And the Knicks ended up losing by 17 points in game number six. And it was a bittersweet ending to the Knicks season because a lot of people thought the Knicks underachieved. that felt like they never really plateaued or hit their apex with the Carl Anthony Towns Jaylen Brunson duo, but they still made it to the conference finals. And a big debate going into the offseason was going to be the Knicks decision at head coach. Were they going to keep Tom Tibido or are they going to fire him? And they ended up firing him. They hired former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown after trying to get Billy Donovan, Jason Kidd, Emodoka, and a bunch of different head coaches throughout the league. And they ended up getting denied for every single phone call. And everybody was pretty much under contract going into the offseason that played meaningful minutes for the Knicks last year. Brunson, Bridges, Hart, and Anobi and Cab were all under contract. Muel Bridges was going to be a free agent in 2026, but the Knicks resigned for four years this off seasonason on a deal over $150 million. Mitchell Robinson can also be a free agent in 2026, but he’s coming back. Miles McBride is coming back as well. And the extension that Jaylen Brunson signed with the Knicks in the 2024 offseason allowed the Knicks to get under the second apron going into 2026 and gave them some more flexibility as well. Jordan Clarkson, the Utah Jazz shooting guard, was bought out by the Jazz and he signed with the Knicks on the veteran minimum who’s going to be an upgrade objectively over somebody like campaign from last year’s team. And then I think a big shocker from this off seasonason as well, Gershon Yelli signed a oneplus one with the New York Knicks, $5.5 million this year, right around the taxpayer exception, and has a $5.7 million player option for 2027. Gershon just had a 30point performance in the Euro basket tournament. And he’s going to be the Knicks seventh, eighth, or ninth most important guy in the 2026 season and is going to be a massive upgrade over somebody like Precious Achiwa coming off the bench as an offensive creator. And it does feel like the Knicks will add another veteran or two before the off seasonason is over. They’re bringing back a ton of guys from the 2024 draft class. Tower Kolic, first round of Pakcomi Dier, Ariel Huporti, who was Mr. Relevant, who my opinion will be involved with the Knicks next year since they didn’t bring back Precious Achiwa. Right now, he’s slotted in to be the third big man behind Carl Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson. Both guys have had some injury concerns in their career. So, Huporti could definitely be in a bench or even starting role at some point this season. It looks like Kevin McCuller will be back as well. They didn’t end up making a serious draft pick. They took Muhammad Awara in the second round. He’s most likely going to be a Euro stash player or a two-way. But now with Mike Brown and not Tibs making the decisions, it does feel like the Knicks will go deeper into their rotation. They’re not going to rely on Josh Hart and Muel Bridges to play 37 minutes a night. And it will allow Gershon at times to play 20 minutes a night or Jordan Clarkson or Miles McBride or even Mitchell Robinson who’s going to give them a nice boost at the start of the season, something they didn’t have last year. And we saw how important Mitchell Robinson was for the Knicks down the stretch and in the playoffs against the Pistons and more importantly the Boston Celtics at times they had to do Hakamich but he was just a lethal part on the offensive glass for the New York Knicks and can really be a swing player in the playoffs and a major X-factor at that. This is going to be year two with Carl Anthony Towns in New York. I would say year one was a success. There were talks that maybe the Knicks would trade Carl Anthony Towns this off seasonason, but last year after averaging 24 points, 13 rebounds, and shooting 42% from three, I mentioned in the beginning of the preview that Cat was an all-star starter, an NBA third team member, I’m really excited to see what year two under Mike Brown, who’s had some really successful offensive seasons, can get the most out of Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns in the pick and roll. I feel like Tibs did not go to that as much as he should have last year. And a lot of the Knicks fourth quarter game plan was just iso ball with Jaylen Brunson, high pick and roll and really letting Jaylen Brunson bail Tom Tibido out. So I’m really excited to see a more creative offensive mind with the Knicks next year. Pat is also extension eligible as well. So I’m really intrigued to see if the Knicks resign Carl Anthony Towns before the season starts and maybe that can give them a little bit more financial flexibility going forward because Brunson, Mikuel Bridges have all taken somewhat of discounts even OG and Anobi as well. So, I wonder if Carl Anthony Towns would do the same because the Knicks have been ducking the second apron just barely for a season and a half now. The Knicks own their 2026 first round pick. They could definitely use that in a trade this season. It would have to be a pick swap since they don’t own their 2027 first. We saw a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers trade multiple pick swaps to the Atlanta Hawks at the deadline last year to pick up DeAndre Hunter. So, the Knicks could try to do something like that this year. The problem is though, they don’t have great medium contracts, right? They have very large contracts in Cat, OG, Brunson, and Bridges. and they have a lot of cheap contracts in Gershon, Miles McBride, and Mccomi D. So unless the Knicks want to trade away a Josh Hart or an expiring Mitchell Robinson, they’re not going to really have flexibility to go out and get somebody like the Cavs did with DeAndre Hunter because they were able to give up guys like Caris Levert and George Nyang. The East is going to be wide open next year. And on paper right now, I do believe the Knicks are the second best team in the Eastern Conference going into the regular season. I still think you have to give Cleveland the benefit of the doubt. I know the Knicks made it to a round further than Cleveland last year, but Cleveland owned New York in the regular season. They were banged up against Indiana and they won 64 games last year. I know Max Struce and Garland could be hurt to start off the year, but I’m still taking Cleveland over New York right now. But I like New York over Orlando who hasn’t proved anything in the playoffs yet and they’re still somewhat of a young team. I like New York over Atlanta, a team that did beat New York back in the 2021 playoffs, but both those teams are drastically different. I think there’s too many question marks with Milwaukee right now and their depth and high quality talent around Giannis. Detroit may not be ready and they lost to the Knicks last year. Who knows if Philadelphia could be healthy next year. Who knows how Toronto is going to look and maybe one of those teams leapfrogs the New York Knicks throughout the regular season. I still like the Knicks if they are healthy to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. And they did beat Cleveland a few years ago. This Knicks team looks a lot different than what they did in 2023 when they beat Cleveland in round number one. But like I said in the beginning of this video, if the Knicks do not make it to the finals, I do believe it’s a bust of a season. It is now or never for the New York Knicks to take advantage of the wideopen Eastern Conference with the injuries to Tyres Halbertton and Jason Tatum and make it to their first Finals appearance since 1999. But this Knicks team shouldn’t be too different in 2027. Everybody but Mitchell Robinson, Jordan Clarkson, and Gershelli will still be under contract in that season. But why not right now for the New York Knicks go and get to the NBA finals? because we saw how crazy the city of New York was back in just the Eastern Conference Finals. They gave every Knicks player a street name for just making it to the conference finals. Something the Boston Celtics do it feels like every other year. Maybe a team like Atlanta or Orlando leaprogs them in the regular season. The Knicks don’t get a favorable round two matchup. They end up getting balanced. And who knows, maybe we’re going to have big question marks in the 2026 offseason. But right now, I’m expecting the Knicks to go to the conference finals, maybe even the NBA finals this year because they truly have the talent to do so in 2026. So, hope you guys did enjoy that 2026 Knicks season preview. If you did, I would appreciate you dropping a thumbs up. Let me know what you guys think about the Knicks roster construction right now and where you see them going next year in the regular season. Do you agree with me that they could make it to the NBA finals next year or do you not believe in the defense and the identity they have right now given they have some question marks? Brunson, Cat, great offensive players, but not two guys that you want anchoring your defense. We’ll talk about the Toronto Raptors next and I’ll see you guys in that one. Peace. [Music]

🟣 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattgeist_/

📘Twitter – https://twitter.com/sixringsofsteei

🏀2K Channel – https://www.youtube.com/user/SixringsofsteeI

📷TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@sixringsofsteel

🏈NFL Channel – https://www.youtube.com/@MatthewGeist1

⚾MLB Channel – https://www.youtube.com/mgbaseball