{"id":479719,"date":"2025-12-17T23:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/479719\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T23:34:15","slug":"knicks-refuse-to-follow-lakers-nba-cup-move-after-championship-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/479719\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Refuse to Follow Lakers’ NBA Cup Move After Championship Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Knicks<\/a> returned from Las Vegas with the 2025 NBA<\/a> Cup in hand, with fans reading to attend a home celebration on Friday at Madison Square Garden before the Knicks take on the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even though most fans don’t consider the NBA Cup a bona fide title meriting hanging a banner, the expectation was for the franchise to commemorate the accomplishment the same way the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> and Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> did after winning previous editions of the tournament.<\/p>\n

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ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania broke the news<\/a> on Tuesday that New York would go in a different direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New York Knicks will not raise an NBA Cup championship banner at Madison Square Garden, sources tell ESPN,\u201d Charania reported. \u201cThe Lakers and Bucks raised banners for NBA Cup titles over the last two years. Knicks will celebrate with home fans Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Knicks delivered a 124-113 win over the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> behind a superb performance by OG Anunoby<\/a>, with 28 points, and tournament-MVP Jalen Brunson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Although the MSG’s rafters are home to banners recognizing division and conference titles, not just NBA championships, the Knicks are breaking tradition here.<\/p>\n

A source also told SNY\u2019s Ian Begley<\/a> the team\u2019s decision reflects the franchise’s priority on competing for the NBA title in June rather than commemorating the less heralded in-season tournament.<\/p>\n

That aligns with league sources who told The Athletic<\/a> that New York is focused on a championship pursuit, not symbolic additions to the rafters.<\/p>\n

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\"New<\/p>\n

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11)\u00a9 Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

During Tuesday’s postgame ceremony, head coach Mike Brown referenced a potential banner during his speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most positive is being able to hang a banner up at MSG, the most iconic arena in the league,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

New York will instead host an in-arena celebration during Friday\u2019s game, as the Knicks face the 76ers at Madison Square Garden at 7:00 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Related: Lakers Make Dalton Knecht Move Two Months After Trade Report<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Chris Paul\u2019s\u00a0Clippers\u00a0Apology Emerges After\u00a0Lengthy Call\u00a0With Tyronn Lue\u00a0in November<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Dec 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Knicks returned from Las Vegas with the 2025 NBA Cup in hand, with fans reading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,7,288,150,1634,121,6,3095,13858,68771,191,741,678,207,3817,474,567],"class_list":{"0":"post-479719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-76ers","8":"tag-76ers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-jalen-brunson","11":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","12":"tag-madison-square-garden","13":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-championships","16":"tag-nba-cup-championship","17":"tag-nba-cup-titles","18":"tag-new-york-knicks","19":"tag-og-anunoby","20":"tag-philadelphia","21":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","22":"tag-philadelphia76ers","23":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","24":"tag-shams-charania"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115737531102323129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}