{"id":846519,"date":"2026-09-29T08:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/846519\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T08:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:48:10","slug":"knicks-believe-they-know-what-it-takes-to-deliver-rare-nba-championship-repeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/846519\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks believe they know what it takes to deliver rare NBA championship repeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The overwhelming trajectory of the NBA is working against the Knicks.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re out to buck an era-defining trend.<\/p>\n

None of the past eight champions have repeated the following season; the Warriors in 2017 and \u201918 were the last teams to do it, having lost in the 2019 Finals. Almost a decade of parity followed in a league that previously was ruled mainly by dynasties.<\/p>\n

Why should these defending champion Knicks be any different?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe write,\u201d Josh Hart said during the team\u2019s Media Day on Monday, \u201cour own history.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more than just that none of those teams repeated. It\u2019s how much \u2014 and how quickly \u2014 most fell off.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it probably shows the significance of the [collective bargaining agreement], the second apron, all those kinds of things,\u201d Hart said. \u201cAt the end of the day, that\u2019s the past. It has no precedent on what the future is going to hold. For us, we\u2019re not really worried about it. We\u2019re worried about etching our own stories and our own legacies.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson speaks to the media during media day at the Knicks training facility in Tarrytown, New York, Monday, September 28, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The current CBA, particularly with that second apron, makes it difficult for champions to keep their roster together<\/a> without facing harsh penalties. It\u2019s the main reason the Knicks had to let Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency.<\/p>\n

Talent has become increasingly spread out across the league rather than condensed on a select few teams.<\/p>\n

But the Knicks return the rest of their core beyond Robinson, and all still are in their respective primes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the confidence knowing that we did do it,\u201d Jalen Brunson said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to help us, but that can also hurt us. So it\u2019s all about how we go into training camp and how we go into these first few weeks to see where we are as a team, and then we\u2019ll be able to adjust or continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is some experience with the situation among the core. The trio of Brunson, Hart and Mikal Bridges won an NCAA championship together at Villanova. Brunson and Bridges, in particular, experienced the thrill of that championship and won it again two years later.<\/p>\n

They will lean on the knowledge gained from that experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust about not being satisfied, I think, is the biggest takeaway moving forward,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cYou still wanna figure out how you can grow as a person, as a player. So I\u2019ll use that experience.<\/p>\n

New York Knicks guard Josh Hart speaks to the media during media day at the Knicks training facility in Tarrytown, New York, Monday, September 28, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to find a way to turn the page and move on, and I think it starts with the people who surround you. How quickly can they move on to the next thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eastern Conference was shaken up around the Knicks over the offseason. A looming rivalry with the 76ers \u2014 now with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown \u2014 will be something they will have to hear about all year. The Pacers welcome back a healthy Tyrese Haliburton \u2014 the Knicks\u2019 nemesis. The Heat added Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the Raptors brought back their 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n

And, as the defending champions, the Knicks \u2014 particularly with 34 prime-time games (tied for most in the league) \u2014 will be the matchup opponents have circled on their calendars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be hunted,\u201d OG Anunoby said, \u201cbut we\u2019re going to be hunting other teams as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo repeat is gonna take an even higher sense of discipline and execution,\u201d added Karl-Anthony Towns. \u201cAnd we\u2019re gonna have to be even better than what we showed in the playoffs. All of us are aware that we\u2019re gonna have to bring a whole other level to the table if we expect to have a chance to repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also potential off-the-court pitfalls \u2014 what coach Mike Brown called \u201celephants in the room.\u201d The futures of Towns, Hart and Miles McBride are all uncertain, with each yet to sign a contract extension for which they are eligible. Towns and Hart on Monday didn\u2019t shy away from letting it be known that they\u2019re not exactly thrilled with the situation.<\/a><\/p>\n

It has the potential to be a distraction that hovers over their effort to repeat.<\/p>\n

New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown speaks to the media during media day at the Knicks training facility in Tarrytown, New York, Monday, September 28, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t afford to have any slippage in our process,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to decline with our focus and our energy and our daily habits, to what our standard is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Brunson: \u201cThe first couple of weeks or whatever of the season is going to show us who we are and where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

This group undid 53 years of Knicks history. Undoing eight years of NBA history \u2014 and etching their place in that special echelon of champions \u2014 is the new mountain to climb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re all excited for the opportunity to do it again,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI think you guys will see that with how we conduct ourselves, with how we play, that we\u2019re not satisfied with getting one and that hungriness that we\u2019re gonna have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The overwhelming trajectory of the NBA is working against the Knicks. They\u2019re out to buck an era-defining trend.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":846520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,288,327,563,6,191,66],"class_list":["post-846519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-josh-hart","tag-karl-anthony-towns","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117353467363950687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846519","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=846519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/846520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}