Twenty-six years, 11 months and nine days. That’s how long it’s been since the New York Knicks last appeared in an NBA Finals game.
Fifty-three years, one month and three days. That’s how long it’s been since they last won it.
The longest championship drought among teams with at least two titles to their name is now over.
Most Knicks fans weren’t alive to see their last title, and if they were, they certainly weren’t old enough to remember or appreciate it. Neither of my parents were born yet. Knicks head coach Mike Brown was only 3 years old.
In general, the last time a New York big four sports team won a championship was in 2012, when the Giants claimed victory over the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The only New York team that compares to the Knicks’ 53-year drought is the Rangers, whose 1994 title was their first since 1940.
But, as the New York Times so eloquently put it, “The Yankees have the Mets. The Giants have the Jets. The Rangers have the Islanders. The Knicks have no rival for New York’s heart, so this championship means so much more to the city.”
The Knicks have been on the cusp of this for some time.
Back in March 2020, the team promoted Leon Rose to president of basketball operations. Four months later, Tom Thibodeau was hired to be the head coach. The Knicks had already gotten the centerpiece of their rebuild the year before, when they signed Julius Randle to a three-year, $63 million deal.
Following a 21-45 shortened COVID-19 season, the Knicks would go 41-31 in the first year of the new regime and 37-45 the year after that.
Enter Jalen Brunson.
As a free agent in 2022, the former Villanova Wildcat Brunson signed a four-year, $104 million deal to come to the Big Apple. His father, former Knick Rick Brunson, had joined the coaching staff a month prior.
By many, the move was criticized for being an overpay. Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon infamously said he couldn’t be a “1A” type player on a championship team because of his size.
However, Brunson is no stranger to doubt. He fell to the second round of the 2018 NBA draft despite winning 2018 National Player of the Year and two championships at Villanova.
Scouts said he was too small, too slow and not athletic enough, but as Brunson said himself in his introductory press conference with the Knicks, “all those things don’t measure heart. That’s what I have.”
Brunson immediately changed the culture of the organization and quickly positioned himself as captain of the team. In his four years with the Knicks, he’s averaged 26 points, seven assists and three rebounds per game. The Knicks have won more than 50 regular-season games in three of the past four seasons and have made the playoffs every year with Brunson.
At the trade deadline of the 2022-23 season, they made a deal for Brunson’s Villanova teammate, Josh Hart. The next season, they traded RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto for OG Anunoby.
Seven months later, on the eve of the 2024 NBA draft, it was five first-round picks and more for another Villanova teammate, Mikal Bridges. And finally, the pièce de résistance: They sent Julius Randle — the player who started it all — and more pieces to Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns.
Brunson himself took a $113 million pay cut on his extension in 2024 to give the Knicks financial flexibility to sign his new high-price teammates.
But somehow, it was still not enough. The Knicks lost in the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals to the Indiana Pacers, and it was clear something else had to change.
So Tom Thibodeau was replaced with Mike Brown, a coach with a storied past of his own — and finally, a breakthrough.
While it may not be significant news to you that the New York Knicks achieved championship status this past weekend, this particular title means so much to the city of New York.
This Knicks team proved to be a unifying force for the city unlike any I’ve ever seen before. The win kicked off watch parties with thousands of die-hard attendees throughout the five boroughs, outside Madison Square Garden and on city blocks with games projected onto the side of a building.
The city that never sleeps came to a full stop every other day around 8:30 p.m. to watch the Knicks play. New Yorkers even painted subway entrances blue and orange for this team.
The vibes were enough to make you feel sympathetic for celebrities like Ben Stiller and Spike Lee, who have sat courtside at every Knicks game for decades. Money and fame aside, this means just as much to them as it does to all the other New Yorkers who have ridden with the Knicks their entire lives through thick and thin.
Even if you’re not a Knicks fan — or even if they might be rivals of your favorite team — this Knicks championship should be a great reminder of why we love sports. Brunson finally proved his doubters wrong.
For a few weeks, everybody was equal. Young or old, rich or poor, it didn’t matter. Everyone in the city was a Knicks fan.
“Magical” is the only word that feels accurate enough to describe it.
In a world, nation and city with so much division and hate, people came together in the hundreds of thousands to rally behind this group. Fifty-three years, one month and three days was a long wait — but Knicks fans would agree it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Contact Brayden Schultz at bschultz@alligator.org. Follow him on X @schultzbrayden9.
