![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2236933918-e1786449009747.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Mike Brown, New York Knicks<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks<\/a> will enter the 2026-27 season as reigning NBA champions. However, they will face a tough test to begin their new campaign.<\/p>\n According to ESPN\u2019s Sham Charania, the Knicks will face the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> on opening night, which till take place on October, 20. The game will take place at Madison Square Garden, meaning LeBron James<\/a>, Jaylen Brown<\/a>, Tyrese Maxey<\/a>, VJ Edgecombe<\/a> and Joel Embiid<\/a> all begin their tenure together in the home of the current champs.<\/p>\n NBA Opening Night on Oct. 20 on NBC:<\/p>\n \u2013 Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks<\/p>\n \u2013 OKC Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs<\/p>\n While the matchup between New York and Philadelphia will undoubtedly be a huge ratings draw, there won\u2019t be much we can take away from the matchup. Both rosters will be rusty and working their way into the new season.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, it will be a good litmus test for two teams that could find themselves doing battle over a seven-game series in the Eastern Conference Finals, should everything go according to plan for each squad.<\/p>\n During the 2025-26 regular season, New York split its series with the Sixers, losing the first two games before winning both of their road matchups. However, Mike Brown\u2019s roster got the last laugh by sweeping the Sixers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.<\/p>\n Nick Nurse will undoubtedly remind his team of that humbling ahead of the two sides going head-to-head.<\/p>\n Knicks\u2019 Continuity Will Be Key<\/p>\n One key factor working in New York\u2019s favor heading into the new season is the level of continuity throughout the roster. Outside of Mitchell Robinson<\/a>, all key contributors for last season\u2019s championship win are returning.<\/p>\n That continuity should give the Knicks a slight edge over the 76ers, both on opening night and through the season. New York already navigated its own teething issues last season, as everyone adjusted to Mike Brown\u2019s system.<\/p>\n Now, the Knicks should be expected to hit the ground running. Unfortunately for the Sixers, that could make their debut a night to forget. After all, it\u2019s going to take time for Nick Nurse to get the best out of his All-Star rotation, especially as everyone gets used to their roles and who should have the ball in certain situations.<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson Should Be Ready For Opening Night<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson<\/a> underwent surgery earlier this summer. The All-Star guard battled through a wrist injury throughout the Knicks\u2019 championship run.<\/p>\n \u201cI just knew that the opportunity rarely presents itself, you know, to be in a position like that. So I just wasn\u2019t going to let something that seemed minor take me out. So, just whatever needed to be done, just focus on it afterward,\u201d Brunson said, via The New York Post.<\/a><\/p>\n Brunson is expected to be ready for basketball activities by September. That should give him plenty of time to get up to speed ahead of the new season. So, assuming Brunson doesn\u2019t run into any setbacks, Knicks fans should look forward to seeing their star player on opening night.<\/p>\n Knicks fans will undoubtedly hope that Brunson is at, or at least near his best to begin the season. After all, as reigning champions, New York will face a battle every night. That starts with Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Get your popcorn ready.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdam Taylor<\/a> is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Miami Heat for Heavy. He holds bylines for CelticsBlog, USA Today and Yardbarker. Adam also covers the WWE and AEW. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Mike Brown, New York Knicks The New York Knicks will enter the 2026-27 season as reigning NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806],"class_list":["post-809188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-knicks","tag-basketball","tag-knicks","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkknicks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117077713106718116","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809188","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=809188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}