Category: NBA

The 2026 NBA Draft is nearing. The draft is on June 23rd and 24th — the literal definition of around the corner. 

The Houston Rockets hold two picks in this year’s draft, which is a bit unusual, as the Rockets typically sacrifice their draft picks for proven talent. Buy and large, the Rockets have generally been in a contending state.

When jockeying for a title, you have to go all-in. The window is short. This year’s Rockets team has several needs. 

And just two second-round draft picks, the 39th pick and 53rd pick. However, this is a loaded draft, at both the top and the back end. The Rockets can add difference makers at both spots.

I put on the General Manager hat and made the selections for the Rockets. 

Pick #39 – Ugonna Onyenso- Center -Virginia

There’s a possibility that Onyenso may not be on the board when the Rockets make this pick. Onyenso has been going in the early 30s in many mock drafts, in part because of the number of big men that decided to return to school, in the name of NIL riches (and development, in some cases).

Onyenso is a bit limited offensively, but he’s shown the ability to knock down the occasional outside shot. And he’s got good touch around the rim. 

But let’s face it. This pick isn’t about offense. It’s about Onyenso’s defensive strengths, particularly rim protecting and/or shot blocking. He was one of the best in the country at it. Cam Boozer saw firsthand, as Onyenso blocked four of his shots, when they faced off. Onyenso averaged a nation-leading 2.9 blocks (and a 17.4 percent block rate).

His 7-foot-5 wingspan is tough for opponents to deal with. And Houston needs to be looking for a long-term replacement for Steven Adams. 

It’s worth taking a gander around other mock drafts to see what other prognosticators have the Rockets doing with this pick. Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman actually has the Rockets taking Onyenso here as well.

However, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has the Rockets taking Purdue point guard Braden Smith here.

Pick #53 – Otega Oweh -Wing-Kentucky 

The Rockets need wings that can shoot from deep. Otega Oweh isn’t exactly that.

But his outside shot is a work in progress. In his first year as a starter at Oklahoma, he made 37.7 percent from long range. He made 35.5 percent from three in his first year at Kentucky and 33.3 percent this past season.

The percentages have declined slightly but the volume has gone up (1.7 attempts as a sophomore, 2.1 attempts as a junior and 3.8 attempts as a senior). His outside shot needs continued improvement. But it’s not like Oweh can’t score.

He averaged 18.6 points this past season, which led Kentucky and ranked sixth in the SEC. He’s marvelous at attacking and getting to the rim.

It’s tough to stop him when he gets downhill. And he’s a good defender, which will get the attention of Rockets coach Ime Udoka.

A quick peruse around other mock drafts shows Wasserman’s projection of the Rockets selecting Wyatt Fricks of Marshall here. Vecenie has the Rockets taking UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau.

As for the top pick, our friends over at Fanduel have AJ Dybantsa at -450, followed by Darryn Peterson at +380, Cameron Boozer at +1700, Caleb Wilson at +7500 and Darius Acuff at +20000.

If you look down the bench of every NBA team, you’ll see all types of different stories, journeys, and life experiences.

Since the NBA established two-way contracts to allow teams to go past the 15-man roster limit to build organizational depth in 2017, that’s never been truer.

While two-way guys are almost always rookies or relatively young players who would otherwise be populating G-League rosters, they’re still in a unique spot of being able to bridge the major and minor leagues of the sport, similar to a baseball player on a 40-man roster. As such, you’ll see them suit up in games at times, whether consequential or not, but see them in street clothes come playoff time.

Here are the players to sign a two-way contract with the Knicks from 2017-25 and how many games they played for the team:

• Luke Kornet, July 2017 (66 games)
• Isaiah Hicks, October 2017 (21 games)
• Allonzo Trier, July 2018 (88 games)
• Kadeem Allen, January 2019 (29 games)
• Ivan Rabb, October 2019 (0 games)
• Kenny Wooten, January 2020 (o games)
• Jared Harper, November 2020 (8 games)
• Theo Pinson, November 2020 (17 games)
• Myles Powell, April 2021 (0 games)
• Jericho Sims, August 2021 (177 games)
• Luka Samanic, October 2021 (0 games)
• Feron Hunt, March 2022 (2 games)
• Trevor Keels, July 2022 (3 games)
• DaQuan Jeffries, November 2022 (17 games)
• Duane Washington Jr., February 2023 (0 games)
• Moses Brown, March 2023 (0 games)
• Jaylen Martin, July 2023 (0 games)
• Nathan Knight, July 2023 (0 games)
• Dylan Windler, July 2023 (3 games)
• Charlie Brown Jr., October 2023 (8 games)
• Jacob Toppin, October 2023 (25 games)
• Dmytro Skapintsev, December 2023 (2 games)
• Ariel Hukporti, July 2024 (79 games)
• Boo Buie, November 2024 (0 games)
• Matt Ryan, December 2024 (19 games)
• MarJon Beauchamp, March 2025 (6 games)

A lot of forgettable names here. A couple of good pulls who played briefly for mediocre teams. A few of these guys used their time on a two-way contract to parlay it into guaranteed contracts and multi-year careers. Overall, many of these dudes came and went with their NBA careers.

For Trey Jemison III, Dillon Jones, and Kevin McCullar Jr., none of them were able to dress for the postseason, no matter what injuries or circumstances affected the 15-man roster. Their season was functionally over the second the team lost to the Charlotte Hornets on April 12.

But what they did beforehand still matters, and what they meant as locker room guys throughout the postseason does as well. Every player to wear the orange and blue this year contributed to this story, and will get a ring to show for it.

While these three got to enjoy the celebration with their teammates, I’d be remiss to not mention Tosan Evbuomwan, who started the season on a two-way deal and appeared in five games before being released on January 7. He never scored a point and played just eight minutes, but he goes down as one of the 20 men to contribute to this run.

Let’s start with Jemison, who’s already rubbed shoulders with the likes of LeBron James and Luka Doncic as a brief member of the 2024-25 Lakers in one of the now five stops in his career. Undrafted out of UAB in 2023, he’s additionally played for Washington, Memphis, and New Orleans across two seasons before inking a two-way contract in the 2025 preseason to join the Knicks.

Despite not playing a big role in the season, he played seven minutes on Opening Night against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to an injury to Mitchell Robinson, serving as the backup center while Ariel Hukporti started in place of an also-injured Josh Hart. He wouldn’t see the floor for another 32 days, but was here all season long.

He played a season-high 18 minutes in the NBA Cup hangover game against the Pacers, scoring five points and five rebounds. He’d occasionally sub in for brief spells when a big man was injured, playing a total of 13 games and 82 minutes before donning street clothes for the rest of the run.

While he didn’t play, he stayed somewhat in the public eye through his wife’s Instagram. Alex Glover, a former SMU volleyball player, posted her and Trey’s gameday fits throughout the playoff run, something that continually showed up on my feed for the last 8 weeks.

You’re an NBA champion, Trey. Enjoy it.

Next, a two-time champion. Someone who, briefly, thought he was a Knick on draft night, but got an opportunity of a lifetime when he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder just minutes later, winning a title in his rookie year before circling back to New York to complete the Patrick McCaw special.

Dillon Jones grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, spending the first three years of his high school career there before transferring to Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas for his senior year. A three-star recruit, he got a scholarship at Weber State, where he enrolled in the fall of 2020. After four years, including a strong senior year which saw him win Big Sky Player of the Year, he declared for the 2024 NBA Draft, where he was a late first-round prospect.

When the Knicks were on the clock at No. 24 that year, they swiftly traded the pick to the Washington Wizards, acquiring No. 26 and No. 51. In typical Leon Rose fashion, he didn’t hold onto that first-round pick, trading it to the Thunder for five second-round picks. They used one of those picks (and two others) to trade up for Tyler Kolek later that night.

Jones just so happened to be picked 26th, joining the Thunder while technically spending a few minutes as a Knick and legally being drafted by the Wizards because of the NBA’s moratorium. Joining a team that drafts multiple players a year with dozens of pending picks in the future, Jones entered a crowded room in a draft class that included Ajay Mitchell (also briefly a Knick) and Nikola Topic.

As such, on a team that would go on to win a championship, he didn’t get to play much. He got into 54 games, starting three, but would usually only be called on due to injuries. Come playoff time, he played mostly garbage time throughout 10 appearances, but was a champion, and that’s all that matters.

But the problem with him being on the most stacked roster with a lot of assets is that the pieces on the boundary are expendable. Exactly one year after being drafted, he was salary-dumped back to the Wizards, who later waived him in October. Just like that, he was out of a job just 16 months after being a first-round pick.

When the Knicks waived Evbuomwan in January, a two-way spot was open, so the team decided to pick up a guy with a championship in Jones to fill the roster spot.

He only got into seven games, played just 39 minutes, and scored just nine points as a Knick, but somehow found his way into big moments. He was the first player I saw holding the Eastern Conference Champions trophy after the ceremony. He was the one draped over Karl-Anthony Towns after the miraculous Game 4 comeback.

He’s the only player on the roster who can say they’re a two-time champion. No asterisks needed; it’s an exclusive group. Congrats, Dillon!

Kevin McCullar Jr.’s journey came full circle in a way you wouldn’t expect.

Born and raised in San Antonio, he was a star at Karen Wagner High School before fracturing his tibia as a junior. Instead of returning for his senior year, he elected to graduate a semester early to get a head start at Texas Tech, where he had committed as a four-star recruit.

He spent four years with the Red Raiders, evolving into a gritty, do-anything wing playing 30 minutes a night by his junior year before deciding to take it up a notch, transferring to Kansas for his redshirt senior season and playing two years there due to COVID-19 eligibility rules. It turned out that the sixth year was the charm for him, as he blossomed into one of the best players in the Big 12 in 2023-24, being named a Third-Team All-American.

But while his age was certainly a factor for why his stock was low entering the 2024 draft, McCullar also hadn’t shaken the concerning medical history. He suffered a bone bruise that hampered him for the final two months of the season in January 2024, ultimately requiring surgery on it after it proved too difficult to play on when the Jayhawks made the NCAA Tournament.

Those concerning medicals saw him plummet down the board after once being viewed as a sleeper at the back end of the first round. The 23-year-old finally saw his free-fall end at No. 56, when the Knicks, who traded back from No. 40 to pick up a 2028 2nd, selected him as the third member of their four-player class.

His knee injury would hold him out of Summer League, and we wouldn’t see him on the basketball court until he suited up for the Westchester Knicks on January 31, 2025. He made an impact for the G-League club right away as he built back to full strength, ultimately playing in four games with the big league club towards the end of the season.

He had to wait a concerningly long time to be re-signed on a two-way deal for 2025-26, but it was clear early on that the Knicks really thought highly of a healthy McCullar. He dropped 30 in a Summer League game, he had a 30-11-5 game down in Westchester, and when he was suddenly called upon to play a rotation role in late December due to injuries, he was ready.

Out of nowhere, McCullar was the most impactful player on the floor in the December 27 win in Atlanta, playing 23 minutes and putting up 13 & 8, looking like a mini-Josh Hart.

That performance gave him a rotation spot for the next two weeks, but as the Knicks went through the three weeks from hell and both Hart and Landry Shamet returned from injury, he went back to Westchester.

He’d ultimately top his career high with a 14-point game in Game 82 against the Hornets, the last time we’ve seen him play. Of the three two-way guys, I’ve noticed him the least over this playoff run, but I think it’s clear that the Knicks seem to have the most invested in him. Going into next season, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s earned a full-time roster spot, or if he’ll have to look elsewhere for a fully guaranteed payday.

But that’s for July. Enjoy it, Kev, you’re a champion!

–

(P&T will be doing player-by-player article tributes over the next few weeks to commemorate the special team that ended our long, half-century nightmare)

The year of New York

Sometimes it’s just your year. When infectiously optimistic young mayor Zohran Mamdani was elected this past fall, there was a palpable vibe shift in the city. That’s not to say that there’s a direct correlation between the New York Knicks being NBA champions and the era of buoyant positivity permeating the city, but it’s also not to say there’s not one. Other American cities will, inevitably, have their moment in the sun again soon. But 2026 is the year of New York (someone get that memo to the Mets).

Related: Knicks in five and the NBA is alive: New York’s era-defining title is a win for the believers

The Spurs aren’t going anywhere

It may come across as condescending to you’ll get ‘em next time a group of professional athletes who were on the verge of a championship, but the it doesn’t feel like the San Antonio Spurs just squandered a golden opportunity. If anything, they far, far overachieved this year: it’s almost entirely unheard of for a young team to make it all the way to the finals in their first rodeo. The core of Victor Wembanyama (22 years old), Stephon Castle (21) and Dylan Harper (20) certainly took their lumps along the way, and lessons learned are often painful. But it’s not looking through rose-colored glasses to say that this Spurs team will be rodeo-ing for many seasons to come.

The Thunder are not inevitable

As the saying goes, that’s why they play the games. I’m old enough to remember nine months ago, when the Oklahoma City Thunder seemingly didn’t know how to lose and everyone in the NBA media ecosystem was talking about how they were going to cruise to a repeat championship. Flash forward to the present: where the formidable Thunder met their end against the pugnacious Spurs in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. Oklahoma City will absolutely be heard from again, and it wouldn’t be shocking if they wound up back in the finals next year. But let this be a lesson: in an era of parity, dynasties are best left labeled in hindsight, not prematurely.

LeBron shouldn’t retire yet

A 41-year-old with a beard full of grey being the guy to single-handedly backpack his team to a first-round playoff victory sounds fantastical. But there is one timeline in which it’s possible: the one with LeBron James. James has been asked about retirement relentlessly for the past several seasons, and the question is understandable. He is old enough that his own son is now his teammate. But he is, quite frankly, still too damn good to hang it up. When the Lakers found themselves without their top two scorers – All-NBA first-teamer Luka Dončić and guard Austin Reaves – the then-third option had to pull his cape out of the closet. He responded by dragging Los Angeles through the first round almost by force of will. Wherever James ends up next season, it simply cannot be retirement.

Related: ‘He is him’: indomitable Jalen Brunson quiets doubters as Knicks end 53-year wait

It’s a 48-minute game

Everyone who has played any level of organized basketball has heard the same refrain: “We gotta play all 48.” But it’s rare that playing 46 or 47 minutes worth of high-level hoop comes back to bite you … anywhere besides the NBA playoffs. This year’s eventual champions, the Knicks, are that fact personified: clawing back from down 29 points in the second half of Game 4 to complete the largest comeback in NBA finals history. They knew what all great, connected, fearless teams know: it’s never over until it’s over. All it takes is, as captain Jalen Brunson put it after the Game 4 comeback, “chipping away”.

Steph needs help

Listen, maybe it’s just over. But Stephen Curry is still really, really good, and I for one am tired of watching him flame out in the play-in or, at best, the first round year after year. At this point, the 2022 championship feels like a fever dream. Maybe the answer is a 2024 Olympics-style reunion with old rival LeBron James. Maybe the long-rumored Giannis Antetokounmpo pipedream somehow comes to fruition. The Golden State Warriors are running short on time. They need solutions, and quickly. Otherwise, the flashes of brilliance Curry still delivers every spring will become increasingly fleeting, until one day they’re gone.

The Twitter DMs were real

Do we have concrete proof that the controversial, mean (and, if we’re honest, occasionally hilarious) Twitter DMs leaked earlier this season actually came from the keyboard of Kevin Durant? Not exactly. But the evidence is mounting. The most damning exhibit may have been the first round of the playoffs, where Durant’s Houston Rockets were bounced by a Lakers squad relying on meaningful postseason minutes from not only LeBron James Sr, but also junior. Death by Luke Kennard is a pretty scathing indictment all by itself. The Rockets were a walking reminder that talent and chemistry are not the same thing. They looked discombobulated and unmoored with or without Durant in the lineup, but they often seemed to be having a lot more fun when he wasn’t.

Related: Burner account or not, Kevin Durant is bitter, petty and entirely relatable

The Hawks will be great next season

The Knicks won 16 of 19 games during their march to the title, but two of those three losses came in the first three games of the opening round. The opponent? A feisty Atlanta Hawks team that finally admitted defeat on the Trae Young experiment and embraced the future in the form of Jalen Johnson and his Most Improved Player running mate Nickeil Alexander-Walker. In exchange for Young, Atlanta landed the perfect veteran steward in CJ McCollum, who, as shocking as it may sound, was the only player in the entire postseason to consistently make the Knicks look mortal. Add in all that athleticism and depth, plus the No 8 pick in this year’s draft courtesy of the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Hawks should enter next season with a puncher’s chance in what promises to be a fascinating Eastern Conference.

Philly need to turn the page

Speaking of embracing the youth movement, there’s another team in the Eastern Conference that could stand to do the same. For a brief moment – around the start of the second round – it looked as though the stars were finally aligning for this moribund version of the Philadelphia 76ers. Joel Embiid looked like an MVP candidate again. Paul George didn’t look like a walking contractual albatross. Everything was clicking in a way that seemed to validate the grand vision that Daryl Morey had spent years chasing. Then the wheels came off. Morey is out of a job, and the underlying reality has reasserted itself. If there’s a path forward for Philadelphia, it probably doesn’t involve squeezing one more run out of Embiid and George. It involves turning the page, embracing the future, and building around Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe instead.

The Celtics should shake it up

There will be several coaches on the hot seat this summer. Joe Mazzulla, fresh off a Coach of the Year award, probably won’t be one of them. But he showed some serious warts in these playoffs – and, honestly, last year’s too – with his apparent unwillingness to stray from a three-point-heavy dogma even when circumstances demanded it. The pithy press conference quotes are cute and all. They become a lot less charming when your team keeps running aground on the same shoals every postseason. Beyond any tactical adjustments, the Boston Celtics have a major personnel decision to make. Jaylen Brown, the mercurial star who appeared to relish his months-long stint as the team’s No 1 option, may never have more trade value than he does right now. My takeaway? Sell high on Brown, and use the return to retool both the roster and the philosophy underpinning it.

Related: Ecstasy and chaos grip New York City after Knicks win long-sought NBA title – in pictures

The Timberwolves lost the trade

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the blockbuster trade that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns looked like a genuine win-win. While Towns didn’t exactly cover himself in glory during the title-clinching Game 5 of the NBA finals, that debate was settled this postseason. Randle once again proved more liability than asset when the games mattered most, while DiVincenzo will spend most, if not all, of next season recovering from an achilles tear. Meanwhile, Towns was indispensable during the Knicks’ march to the championship. He was particularly brilliant in Games 1 and 2 of the finals, helping set the tone for a dominant series victory and validating the gamble New York made when it acquired him.

Don’t make too much (or too little) of the regular season …

Somewhere between “the NBA regular season is irrelevant” and “the NBA regular season is the bible” lies a more nuanced truth: there is plenty to be gleaned from the six months between October and April, but none of it is definitive. Take, for example, the Detroit Pistons, who steamrolled the Eastern Conference for much of the regular season but carried glaring playoff-centric flaws that were obvious to anyone looking closely enough. Or the Knicks, who faced the opposite problem: a team that wasn’t blowing the doors off opponents during the 82-game marathon because it was clearly ironing out wrinkles in preparation for the 16-game sprint. The signs were there all along, not least when they captured the NBA Cup in December. On the other side of the ledger sat the Spurs. Their regular-season dominance over the Thunder turned out to be more than a curiosity; it was a preview. When the Spurs knocked Oklahoma City out in the conference finals, the warning signs had already been there for months. So by all means, take lessons from the regular season. Just don’t mistake them for gospel.

… and don’t trade for James Harden

There’s a famous meme, born from a scene in Arrested Development, in which one character asks: “Did it work for those people?” The response: “No, it never does. I mean, these people somehow delude themselves into thinking it might ... but it might work for us.” That, in a nutshell, is the James Harden experience. Every few years, a different NBA front office succumbs to a kind of selective amnesia. Executives are charmed by Harden’s remarkably regular-season production and convince themselves that this time will be different. They willingly suppress the memory of the playoff shortcomings that have followed him throughout his career until, inevitably, those memories come flooding back in painful fashion. Then comes the disappointment. Then the trade request. Then the wheel spins again. I will never fully understand how the optimism persists, but the Cleveland Cavaliers became the latest franchise to learn the same lesson as so many before them: when the calendar turns to April, May and June, Harden simply cannot be treated as a dependable No 1 option.

Related: When I chose the New York Knicks, I was also choosing to live. This title moment is what it was all for

A savvy front office is paramount

There was one trait shared by the three best teams in the playoff field – the Thunder, Spurs and Knicks – they were run by smart, shrewd front offices. Their intelligence manifested in different ways. Oklahoma City and San Antonio largely built through the draft. New York took a more aggressive path, assembling their core through trades and free agency. But all three organizations excelled at the same fundamental task: roster construction. You may not have the Thunder’s seemingly endless depth. You may not have the Spurs’ lottery fortune. You may not possess the je ne sais quoi, culture and sheer stubborn resilience that powered the Knicks to a championship. But putting smart people in charge is one of the few competitive advantages available to every franchise.

You can win with a small guard

Becky Hammon is a brilliant basketball mind, a damn good coach and, unfortunately, the source of a quote that will live in infamy. “If your best player is small, you’re not winning,” Hammon said in 2023 while arguing that Brunson, listed at 6ft 2in, could never be a true No 1 option on a championship team. Given that Brunson now possesses both an Eastern Conference finals MVP and an NBA finals MVP trophy, it goes without saying that the take did not age particularly well. If the NBA teaches the same lesson over and over, this season hammered it home more forcefully than most: there is no single blueprint for superstardom. Brunson has flaws. Plenty of them. He is also one of the most outrageously clutch players the league has ever seen. The goal is not to find a flawless basketball demigod molded in the image of ames or Michael Jordan. The goal is to find a truly great player, one capable of leading a locker room and elevating teammates, then intelligently and relentlessly build a roster that amplifies his strengths. The Knicks’ radio broadcaster Tyler Murray captured it perfectly in his final call of the season: “The 2026 New York Knicks will forever be remembered as the team that proved no lead is too big, and no guard is too small.”

Three best guards Warriors could take with No. 11 pick in 2026 NBA Draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Make no mistake about it, Steph Curry remains a superstar who still is playing at an elite level when healthy. He also just missed 39 games and will turn 39 years old at the end of the next NBA season.

The Warriors need more backcourt help around him, and more depth at both guard positions in general. Curry remains under contract and isn’t going anywhere. Brandin Podziemski is under contract and is eligible for an extension this offseason to avoid restricted NBA free agency next offseason. 

The only other healthy guard under contract is Will Richard, who was a pleasant surprise as a second-round rookie. The only other guard under contract outside of Richard is Moses Moody, who is rehabbing a torn patellar tendon, and he’s more of a wing. 

Between age and the state of the current roster, guard play needs to be an upgrade for the Warriors. Here are three who could be available with the No. 11 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. 

Brayden Burries, PG/SG, Arizona 

Of these three prospects, Burries is the least likely to still be available when the Warriors are on the clock. There isn’t one trait of his that jumps out over the others. Burries is a combo guard who can do a bit of everything, as he displayed in his one season at Arizona. 

He was Arizona’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game, and was their leader in both 3-pointers made (70) and steals (59). Burries has every ability to make a difference defensively and offensively, and at the least can complement teammates around him well. As an older freshman who will be 21 before his first NBA game, Burries plays like a high-IQ, high-motor impact guard.

Burries showed up for spotlight games and always seemed to bounce back. He scored just seven points on 1-of-5 shooting in his first game against Houston, only to then outscore Kingston Flemings 21 to eight for a five-point victory in the conference tournament championship game, which came one game after scoring only three points. In front of Warriors coach Steve Kerr in the Sweet 16, Burries was awesome against Darius Acuff Jr., scoring 23 points with five rebounds, two steals and two threes in a blowout win against Arkansas. 

Like a lot of the top guards in the draft, Burries has a range of places he could go to in the lottery. The Warriors sure would be happy to see him still available at No. 11. 

Labaron Philon Jr., PG, Alabama 

A lead guard in the SEC who averaged 22 points per game, shooting 50.1 percent from the field and 39.9 percent behind the 3-point line on high volume, almost always will be seen as a top 10 pick. Playing under the rim and weighing 176 pounds almost always pushes you to the back end of the first round. Philon falls somewhere in the middle. 

Though he isn’t an elite athlete, Philon is silky smooth with the ball in his hands. He played two seasons at Alabama, is younger than Burries, and truly made the leap as a sophomore. His points per game jumped 11.4 points, he essentially shot 40 percent after shooting a lowly 31.5 percent as a freshman, and he dropped 35 points on Michigan for his final game in college. 

How many players on the Warriors last season could beat their man off the dribble and be a real scoring threat? The list isn’t a long one. Philon would be an immediate jolt of offense in that regard. 

Even with having such a slender build that calls for real questions defensively, Philon has to be an option for the Warriors. 

Christian Anderson, PG, Texas Tech 

Speaking of making the leap as a sophomore, Anderson did exactly that. 

He went from making the Big 12’s All-Freshman team to then being named the conference’s Most Improved Player. Anderson averaged 18.5 points and 7.4 assists per game while shooting 41.5 percent from deep on an eye-opening 7.9 attempts per game. Playing mostly at 19, and now 20, Anderson led the Big 12 in minutes and assists, along with ranking fifth in points per game, but did finish second in total turnovers. 

If he were bigger, he’d be going a lot higher in the draft. Anderson came in slightly below 6-foot-1 barefoot at the combine and weighs 180 pounds. However, he does have a 6-foot-6 wingspan, and the tape should speak for itself as someone who wasn’t deterred anywhere on the court. 

Anderson is more of a trade back option for the Warriors, or trading back into the first round after making their first pick. Adding him would bring a lot more instant excitement to Chase Center.

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While the Lakers are set to reshape their roster this offseason, there is something to be said about continuity as well.

Coming into this season, most expected it to be a sort of transition season from the LeBron James era to the Luka Dončić era. One of the primary objectives was to identify players on the team who complemented Luka and could be part of the next iteration.

Obviously, the team’s success changed expectations along the way, but the overall idea remains. The Lakers certainly got answers about who should and shouldn’t be around next year. The next step will be deciding who to keep and who to part ways with.

Two players who flourished this year, particularly at the very, very end of the season, were Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes. Both are set for unrestricted free agency but it looks like the pair could be prioritized by the Lakers this summer.

On Monday, Dan Woike of The Athletic reported that are believed to be internal free agents the team prioritizes this offseason.

The belief is that Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes are players the Lakers would prioritize bringing back as they try to best fit a roster around Dončić. And each piece of the puzzle the Lakers feel they need to add into their cap space takes up a slice that could go to James.

There is logic as to why the Lakers feel this way about both players.

With Rui, while there is plenty of discussion of areas his struggles, like his rebounding or defense, they don’t grow 6’8” forwards who are lights out 3-point shooters on trees. Even if he isn’t the perfect fit next to Luka, he is still a great one.

And even if things don’t work out, signing Rui to a deal and figuring out a trade later is a better option than losing him for nothing this summer.

As for Hayes, there is obviously the aspect of him being a solid rim-running center who has good chemistry with Luka. The friendship between the two, which led to Hayes actually getting a Slovenian passport, is also a factor.

That being said, he’s someone who has, more often than not the last two seasons, been unplayable in the playoffs. Even if he found a more suitable role as a backup big man, could the Lakers take a swing at another option in the backup center role?

It is that balance of continuity versus roster reshaping that the Lakers will have to grapple with as free agency opens.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

The New York Knicks’ first NBA championship in 53 years may have been built on many things: Jalen Brunson’s brilliance, Mike Brown’s steady hand, a suffocating defense and a healthy roster when it mattered most.

According to much-maligned team owner James Dolan, it may also have required a little self-denial.

A video released Monday by the Roommates Show podcast revealed that Dolan urged Knicks players to consider abstaining from sex during what he anticipated would be a 10-week march to an NBA title, part of a broader appeal for sacrifice delivered shortly before the playoffs began.

“I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks,” Dolan told players during a surprise speech to the team on 3 April. “The Spartans, they denied themselves, right, so they can have an edge. Get the edge.”

The remarks came as part of a lengthy address in which Dolan implored the team to seize what he described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end one of the longest championship droughts in North American sports.

“This team can win it all,” Dolan said. “I don’t know if you understand what it would mean for you to win the championship this year. It would be life-changing for all of you.”

At the time, the Knicks had five regular-season games remaining. They would go on to win four of them before resting starters in the finale, then storm through the postseason with a 16-3 record, defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games to capture the franchise’s first title since 1973.

Related: Knicks in five and the NBA is alive: New York’s era-defining title is a win for the believers

Dolan’s comments have quickly become the most discussed portion of the speech, though the owner framed the suggestion as part of a wider message about commitment and discipline. He urged players to improve their diets, prioritize sleep and eliminate distractions during the playoffs.

“It’s not a long time,” Dolan said. “Sacrifice everything you’ve got these next 10 weeks to win that championship.”

The Knicks owner also acknowledged that any championship pursuit would require buy-in from players’ families.

“Go home, talk to your wives,” Dolan said. “Don’t tell them it was my idea. But let them know what this commitment is going to be like, and how they’re going to have to sacrifice too.”

“They were a little surprised, but the words hit,” a source told SNY.

Whether any Knicks players followed Dolan’s advice remains unclear. One person who apparently did not was head coach Mike Brown.

Speaking to the New York Post after the video surfaced, Brown said he had no intention of implementing the owner’s recommendation in his own household.

“There was no way that I could get that done,” Brown told the Post.

The speech was delivered during Brown’s first season in charge after replacing Tom Thibodeau, a controversial coaching change that Dolan also addressed during the meeting. He told players that Knicks leadership believed the roster was talented enough to compete for a title but needed a more collaborative approach.

According to Jake Fischer, Trae Young is the backup target for teams who strike out on the Giannis sweepstakes.

The team Fischer mentions is the Miami Heat, but there are apparently other teams out there that might be interested.

From Fischer:

I’ve also been advised that there are a few teams out there which have begun weighing the prospect of pursuing the four-time NBA All-Star via trade, whichwould require the 27-year-old to activate his $49 million player option for 2026-27 rather than decline it by his June 23 deadline.

But how does this affect the Utah Jazz?

Well, it might actually decide who they draft. Could this rumor be flying because the Wizards have decided on Darryn Peterson with the #1 pick? Today, Peterson canceled all his remaining workouts. Did that also set off the possibility of Washington moving on from Young?

This could be nothing, but it’s more smoke that signals the Wizards may have made their decision with the #1 pick. Peterson has also mentioned he thinks of himself as a point guard. Is Peterson’s management pushing for the Young trade? Are they also avoiding having him lose touches to another point guard … like Keyonte George? Agencies want to do what’s best for their clients and give them the best opportunity possible. They very well could be pushing in ways that shape the future of the Jazz and Wizards.

If we want to get deep into the conspiracy theory…

Maybe the Wizards are looking for a trade, and if they find one, they will then draft Peterson. If it doesn’t work out, then maybe they pick Dybantsa to pair with Young?

I don’t know if it’s that simple, but who knows. I don’t think anyone expected the Wizards to trade for Young in the first place.

According to Ian Begley of SNY, the Knicks hosted a group workout for draft prospects that included Duke guard Isaiah Evans. The World Champion Knicks are considering how best to use the 24th, 31st, and 55th picks in next week’s draft.

Evans is a 6-foot-6 wing from North Carolina who arrived at Duke as one of the top shooting prospects in his recruiting class.

After a limited freshman season, Evans broke out as a sophomore in 2025-26. He averaged 15 points per game and shot 38% from three-point range at Duke. During the Blue Devils’ NCAA Tournament run, he averaged 18.9 points per game.

Evans’ appeal begins with his shooting. He is one of the best perimeter shooters in this draft class, capable of stretching defenses well beyond the three-point line thanks to his deep range and quick release. He is particularly dangerous moving without the ball, whether coming off screens, positioning around the perimeter, or finding open space in transition. He possesses good size for an NBA wing, allowing him to play either shooting guard or small forward. Defensively, he remains a work in progress, but scouts have noted steady improvement in his team defense and overall awareness. Long term, he projects as a floor-spacing 3-and-D wing who can provide shooting, secondary scoring, and complementary defense alongside high-usage teammates.

For a Knicks team built around the gravity of Jalen Brunson and the interior scoring of Karl-Anthony Towns, Evans is the kind of prospect who could deliver some cost-controlled offensive juice with the second unit.

With the draft looming, the Knicks were active behind the scenes during their Finals run, bringing in multiple prospects for pre-draft workouts. Reports have connected them to several names, including:

Meleek Thomas (Arkansas) — athletic scoring guard with defensive upside.

Ebuka Okorie (Stanford)— productive scorer who can create offense.

Chris Cenac Jr. (Houston) — athletic big man who has appeared in multiple Knicks mock-draft projections.

Morez Johnson Jr. (Michigan)— physical frontcourt player who has also been linked to New York in mock drafts.

Begley’s report indicates Evans was part of a group workout, which is normal for teams drafting in the 20s and early second round as they compare several similarly graded prospects side by side.

The bigger takeaway from the Knicks’ workout list is that they appear focused on three archetypes: shooting wings, defensive combo guards, and young frontcourt depth.

A guy like Evans makes sense. The Knicks are expensive, deep, and coming off a title. They don’t need a developmental point guard. They need players who can help off the bench. If the front office believes backup-big minutes remain a more pressing long-term need, someone like Chris Cenac Jr. or Morez Johnson Jr. could be attractive.

Of course, Leon Rose has a history of consolidating assets. Will the Knicks use all three picks, bundle them in a swap for a higher spot, or move some (or all) of them for better options in next year’s draft? Let the intrigue commence.

Go Knicks!

A California woman was mourning the death of her dog who was fatally shot by Los Angeles police officers on the evening of June 13.

Officers of Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga Patrol Division responded to a radio call of a "screaming woman" in an apartment unit located in Canoga Park around 8:55 p.m., according to a LAPD news release. When officers arrived at the apartment complex they were directed to the unit where the noise was coming from.

The woman, identified as Marie Marsielle, had her dog, Jameson, by her side as she was speaking with the police officers. According to the Los Angeles Times, Marsielle was born and raised New York and moved to California for work in 2014.

Marsielle was heard screaming and yelling in celebration of the New York Knicks' 2026 NBA championship, the team's first since 1973. Jameson was sporting Knicks apparrel the night they won and was allegedly barking at police, so officers requested the pet to be secured, the LAPD said.

Before the Knicks raise their championship banner at Madison Square Garden, a different one was erected somewhere else. 

Well, not exactly a banner. 

Josh Hart, appearing with the rest of the Knicks on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Monday night, reminisced about the time he pranked Fallon during the team’s magical championship run.

During the third quarter of Game 1 of the second round against the 76ers, which the Knicks won 137-98, Hart reached down and untied Fallon’s left shoe.

Fallon was sitting courtside at MSG. 

Fallon had everyone on the Knicks sign the shoe, but left one spot open for Hart to be the final autograph during Monday’s show.

It became Fallon’s good luck charm — when the Knicks fell behind in their Game 5 clincher, Fallon told his daughter to untie his shoe.

Everyone knows what happened next. 

Fallon and Hart on Monday raised that shoe into the Studio 6B rafters. 

The Knicks’ appearance on “The Tonight Show” came amid a full day of partying, celebrations and media appearances.

The full team, along with coach Mike Brown, was there at 30 Rock.

Brown, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns spoke with Fallon in the first segment and OG Anunoby, Hart and Mikal Bridges appeared in the second segment. 

Brown, no longer in his Knicks quarter zip or sweats, showed off a chain and a new pair of glasses and, like he did on the stage at the Frost Bank Center, barked out “Who let the dogs out?!”

Brunson and Towns jokingly covered their faces in embarrassment. 

Later, Fallon quipped that Anunoby “actually showed a bit of emotion,” when talking about his game-winning tip-in.

Towns paid homage to his late mother.

Brunson spoke about the moment he shared with his father, Rick right after the final buzzer sounded. 

The fans in attendance at the taping were all Knicks superfans, a bit rowdier than the normal clientele.

Spike Lee was the one who introduced the team.

President Leon Rose sat amongst the crowd with his wife, Donna, which sparked constant “Thank you Leon” cheers.

Fallon briefly went into the crowd and asked Rose a few questions.

Who/what was the first player/decision he made that made him believe this could lead to something special? 

“Brunson.”

Did he ever have any doubts amid all their deficits in the Finals? 

“This team never quits.” 

Then, when Fallon began taking questions from the fans, one actually had one for Rose — how did he plan to keep this core together? 

Rose was true to form.

Looking at the couple of reporters in the attendance, he said “You know I don’t talk to the media.” 

Wu Tang Clan — who performed at halftime of the epic Game 4 win during the Finals — was the musical guest and performed “C.R.E.A.M.” Even the Knicks City Dancers had their own moment. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda was there to tape a segment for Tuesday’s show — he was originally scheduled for Monday but moved to accommodate the full Knicks takeover episode. 

These Knicks, after all, are the biggest superstars in the city right now. 

According to Ben Anderson, Darryn Peterson’s camp is “very confident they are going #1,” and this is the reason for the change of plans to work out with the Utah Jazz.

Does this mean that Darryn Peterson is avoiding Utah because he doesn’t want to play in Utah? It doesn’t look it. It appears that this has everything to do with him wanting to be the #1 pick.

From Anderson:

…there has been “plenty of communication” between the Jazz and Peterson, and the Kansas guard was not “trying to avoid Utah at all.”

This is definitely the biggest tell that maybe the Wizards aren’t as locked in on AJ Dybantsa at #1 as we thought. Shams Charania has also continued to talk about this story and says that “both AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson believe they will be the #1 pick in the draft.”

How this affects the Jazz is who they end up drafting. It has been clear since before the NBA lottery that the two best prospects in this draft are Dybantsa and Peterson. When Utah landed the #2 pick on lottery night, their pick was always going to depend on who the Wizards picked at #1. So, how this changes things for Utah is whether they are printing Dybantsa or Peterson jerseys next season.

On a side note, the idea that Utah would somehow pick Boozer at #2 keeps getting floated by NBA media like Bill Simmons and Kevin O’Connor, but this has always been a two-man draft at the top between Dybantsa and Peterson. Utah will get whoever the Wizards don’t pick, and you can bet they will be happy either way.

(Note: For more information on CBA terms and their impact, read this breakdown from June 2024.)

The New York Knicks are NBA champions.

Every last move over the last several years, every tweak of the salary cap, every bold decision has all led up to this moment, with the Knicks ending a 53-year long nightmare on Saturday night in San Antonio.

All of the hard work that President of Basketball Operations Leon Rose and his staff have done to shape one of the greatest teams in franchise history should be enjoyed for a long time, but the beauty of being the ones to lift the Larry O’Brien Trophy is that the turnaround is extremely short.

The NBA Draft is on June 23. Free agency begins one week later. In just over weeks, we’ll probably know the direction they’ll go as defending champions in 2026-27.

It’s a lot of work exploring every nook and cranny of NBA business. Thankfully, SBNation is partnering with SalarySwish to use their data and help answer every question we have about the Knicks’ financial situation and what it might mean this offseason and going forward.

Below are the full, comprehensive details from SalarySwish, as well as an FAQ breakdown.

Knicks Roster, Salaries, Draft Picks, Cap Space and More

Here is a table with all of the Knicks’ salary information, courtesy of our friends at SalarySwish:

FAQ

Now, let’s answer some of your most frequently asked questions about the Knicks’salary cap and draft pick situations moving forward.

What is the Knicks’ cap situation?

According to Salary Swish, the New York Knicks have a projected cap hit of $205.4 million for the 2025-26 season with eight players rostered, leaving them $40 million over the projected salary cap. They are $4.4 million over the luxury tax, $4 million beneath the first apron, and $16.9 million beneath the second apron

The first step in the offseason will be seeing what Jose Alvarado does with his $4.5 million player option. I feel like that could go either way. After that, you probably have to deal with restricted free agents Ariel Hukporti and Mo Diawara, who both should be reasonably affordable. The unrestricted free agents include Landry Shamet, Mitchell Robinson, Jeremy Sochan, and Jordan Clarkson.

Is the second apron inevitable?

For those living under a rock, here’s a second apron explainer. You do not want to be there.

The answer is simple. Yes.

The Knicks, fiscally, cannot retain this roster without going into the second apron. Shamet and Robinson alone will make more than the $17 million in space they have, and that’s not even factoring in their draft picks, Alvarado, or the potential for a Diawara offer sheet. Going under the second apron would be pointless, especially with the proof in the pudding that this roster is capable of a championship.

The good news is that the severe punishments of the second apron only come into place in the third year that you operate in it, so the Knicks have the green light to expand payroll to keep this roster together through the end of the 2027-28 season before resetting. That’s your championship window.

How much will the Knicks pay in luxury taxes this year?

SalarySwish currently estimates about $4 million, which isn’t much but that’s before the offseason signings.

This will be the team’s third year in the luxury tax, which will be the last before the team is in the extremely restrictive repeater tax. If we assume the Knicks run it back with market value contracts for some of these players, they’ll likely be $15 million over the second apron, which would amount to over $90 million in total luxury tax.

Get ready to pay up, Mr. Dolan.

Who are extension candidates?

Obviously excluding players hitting free agency, there’s a few players who will be eligible to extend this offseason.

The big one is the Big Bodega, who’s due to make $57 million next year in the final guaranteed year of his last extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves before a $61 million player option in 2027-28. Towns is eligible to sign a four-year, $272 million supermax, a deal worth $68 million per year. His Year 1 salary won’t be too dissimilar to what he’d get anyway in 2027-28 with the player option, but it’ll escalate as he enters his mid-30s.

Is there a chance he takes less? Sure, but we can’t count on that. Now that they’ve won a title, expect guys to get their due rather than sacrificing.

The second key player immediately eligible is sixth-man Deuce McBride, who, despite a disastrous Finals performance, is an integral part of the bench with a criminally low salary of $4 million. He’s now eligible to sign a four-year, $95 million extension, which he won’t get, but could sign for anything less. He’s probably worth $15 million AAV on the open market, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Knicks approach this.

The final player who’ll be extension-eligible is Josh Hart, who will be eligible to extend his current contract on August 10. He’ll be eligible to sign for over $30 million a year, but he won’t receive that. This one is also interesting, as despite how integral he is to the identity of this team, he might not have much longer here.

Hart has made it clear he doesn’t want to play too deep into his 30s, and he turns 32 next March. With a $22 million team option due in 2027-28, could it be possible that the Knicks ride out this contract through Hart’s age-33 season and see how much longer he wants to play at that point?

What draft picks do the Knicks have?

Hey, the Knicks have a first-round pick this year!

Unlike in the NFL, MLB, and NHL, the NBA champion’s pick isn’t automatically moved back to No. 30, so the Knicks will pick 24th in next Tuesday’s draft. They will additionally receive the 31st pick from the Washington Wizards after their flagrant tanking finally ended with the conditional pick not conveying, giving the Knicks their second-round picks in 2026 and 2027. They also have the 55th pick after complex pick-swapping rules resulted in them retaining their pick.

The Knicks actually made out like bandits here despite not receiving a first-rounder. Now, if a team finishes with the worst record in the NBA, their second-round pick gets thrown all the way back to No. 46 thanks to tanking reform. And with the Wizards trying to compete next year, the Knicks won’t have to worry about that with the pick they get for next season.

After those 2026 picks, the Knicks have seven future second-round picks (including three in 2027) and their own first-round picks in 2030, 2032, and 2033. Additionally, they have the lesser of theirs or the Brooklyn Nets’ 2028 first. Due to the Stepien Rule, the Knicks are not allowed to trade their 2030 or 2032 picks unprotected, but are allowed to use them in swaps. The status of the team in the second apron will ultimately determine if the 2033 pick is able to be traded.

If you want to take the role of GM and mock up some trades, check out FanSpo or ESPN’s trade machine. And don’t forget to check your numbers with Salary Swish!

If you found this page useful, please bookmark it and/or share, and if you have any questions or information you’d like to see included, let us know in the comments below!

The Utah Jazz’s offseason checklist listed just two crucial items from the moment the regular season concluded: maximize value through the draft, and re-sign Walker Kessler.

Somebody please explain, then, why Kessler and the Jazz are butting heads in contract negotiations for the second straight offseason.

With restricted free agency soon approaching, reports are sprouting from the fertile soil of the NBA offseason — the basketball equivalent of Formula 1’s silly season, in which the public is peppered by a hailstorm of rumors and reports that athletes will be on the move. If it’s interesting or potentially consequential, the eagerly awaiting public will chomp at the first morsel to hit their news feed.

And the Jazz are dipping their toes into those choppy waters by butting heads with their franchise center, Walker Kessler, for the second consecutive season.

Many, many NBA teams wouldn’t hesitate to overpay for a center this offseason, and letting Walker Kessler venture into the waters of free agency — even restricted free agency — will accomplish one of two things. Either the Jazz are forced to match an expensive offer sheet, or they lose a foundational piece of the roster they have spent the past three seasons meticulously constructing.

Finally, at the brink of fielding a competitive roster for the first time since Royce O’Neale was a Jazzman, Utah is letting a routine ground ball roll right past their glove.

Situations like these often boil down to a rousing game of “Who’s being unreasonable?” We’re forced to question whether Utah is being stingy, or if Walker Kessler’s camp is demanding too great a sum. We could be seeing a little bit of both, with lingering resentment and frustration impacting the numbers on either end of this negotiation. Contract negotiations are typically a tight-lipped interaction between the player’s representation and their team’s front office, so it’s hard to gauge which side needs to give way from an outside perspective.

But as negotiations become tense for the second consecutive year, I’d argue that both sides could do a bit more to meet each other in the middle without threatening free agency.

Alongside Markkanen and Jackson Jr, the Jazz place Kessler as the anchor of what might be the biggest, most fearsome front court in the NBA; if all goes according to plan, that is.

Losing Kessler simply isn’t an option for the Utah Jazz this offseason, and I expect them to match any offer sheet if this indecision eventually dips into free agency. JJJ arrived as part of a plan to fit alongside Kessler in the front court, and they’d be insane to quit on that plan before the pair have shared the court even once.

That’s why I feel the rumors that Kessler is “considering a future outside of Utah” are overblown — literally every NBA player has considered a career outside of their current location, so that means nothing to me. The two sides can and must come to an agreement.

A center of Kessler’s quality is hard to find these days — just ask Los Angeles — and the Jazz have invested far too much into this core of talent to let it slip now.

Sign Walker Kessler — it’s as simple as that.

Calvin Barrett is a writer, editor, and prolific Mario Kart racer located in Tokyo, Japan. He has covered the NBA and College Sports since 2024.

The New York Mikals are your NBA Champi- I mean, the New York Knicks are your NBA Champions. This has honestly come as quite a shock to me. The Knicks were not the championship favorites coming into the season, the playoffs, the Conference Finals, or even the NBA Finals. 

I, like many foolish people, watched the Western Conference Finals thinking that I was watching the deciding series of the playoffs. Surely either the Thunder or the Spurs would take down any team in the East over the course of seven games, right?

Apparently not.

I am elated by this outcome, though. Not only do I love to see the Spurs lose, but I loved watching one of my all-time favorite Suns win a chip. Most of all, though, I love what this outcome tells us about the NBA in the modern era.

When I think of the NBA, I think of dynasties. I think of Magic and Bird, Jordan, Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, LeBron, Wade, Steph. I don’t think of Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups. The NBA, more than any other sport, is defined by its dynasty-building superstars. That is the image that has skyrocketed the NBA brand to its current popularity.

But, the NBA has implemented many changes in recent years to break the chain of dynasties and lead us to our current parity paradise. The most impactful of these changes was the second apron, forcing teams to break up talented cores and make tough choices about who to keep. In many ways, this new parity era has taken the NBA away from its previous dynasty-heavy identity to something more akin to the MLB. 

Until very recently, when the Dodgers decided to ruin the game I love, the MLB playoffs have been defined by an “every team has a chance” spirit. If your favorite team made the playoffs, they could get hot at the right time and beat any other team. The Arizona Diamondbacks experienced this in 2023, making a run to the World Series in a season where they went just 84-78.

Every now and then you get a big run in baseball. The Yankees will rip off three in a row here, the Red Sox will win two in three years there. But for the most part, every playoff team has a shot. In the NBA, this isn’t usually the case.

Let’s take a look at the last seven NBA champions going into these playoffs:

• 2025 – Oklahoma City Thunder
• 2024 – Boston Celtics
• 2023 – Denver Nuggets
• 2022 – Golden State Warriors
• 2021 – Milwaukee Bucks
• 2020 – Los Angeles Lakers
• 2019 – Toronto Raptors

Four of these seven, OKC, Boston, Denver, and Milwaukee share a commonality. Each of these teams, I would argue, were at the beginning or middle of their championship window. Milwaukee was closer to the end than any of us knew, but would have probably had a longer run if it weren’t for injuries.

The Warriors were clearly at the end of their window when they won in 2022. The Lakers title, though legitimate, was won in the bubble so I don’t want to use it to identify any trends. Finally, the Raptors window closed after Kawhi Leonard left town for the Clippers.

For each of the other four, I looked around the league after they won and asked, “Who could possibly beat this team next season?” For Milwaukee and Denver, I thought their best players were simply unbeatable. For Boston and OKC, I thought their systems were unbeatable. 

But all were beaten.

And now we have an NBA champion in the New York Knicks that looks a lot like the Texas Rangers, who beat the Diamondbacks in 2023, and that is strange. Much like the Diamondbacks themselves, the Rangers weren’t really in contention before their 2023 title run, and haven’t really been in contention since. They simply got hot at the right time and went on an incredible run.

Since the Bulls dynasty ended almost 30 years ago, the New York Knicks are just the fourth team to win a title that “wasn’t supposed to be there” (2019 – TOR, 2011 – DAL, 2004 – DET). Every other champion could have been considered a contender going into their title year(s).

Oh, the Knicks were good, and have been for years now. But the Raptors, the Mavericks, and the Pistons had all been good going into their title years too, and they weren’t expected to win either.

The difference is the environment. The Raptors won a title in the Warriors dynasty years, the Mavericks in the Boston/Miami years, and the Pistons in the Spurs/Lakers years. Everyone knew that the following season, one of the big dogs was likely to find itself back on top the food chain. It isn’t like that anymore. The Knicks have won an NBA championship in what could have been the second year of an OKC dynasty or the first year of a Spurs dynasty, but wasn’t. Next year, it could be Miami, Atlanta, or Indiana that gets hot at the right time and beats the next “unbeatable” team.

But, this isn’t Bright Side of the Knickerbockers, so why should Suns fans care that the Knicks won a title?

You should care because it means this ship may not have to sink after all. It means that the Suns can find their way to a title in the Devin Booker era. It could be the Suns who do the impossible and beat the unbeatable, like the Knicks did this season.

New York found their guy, Jalen Brunson, and surrounded him with the pieces he needed. They got long, defensive wings, a stretch big, and a deep enough bench. They built around him well with the pieces that fit best alongside him, and it paid off.

The Suns did this once with Booker as well. They gave him a point guard to run the offense, stretch bigs off the bench, long defensive wings, and paint defense. It resulted in the Suns’ first NBA finals run since the Barkley era.

I have been a bit doom-and-gloom since the Suns traded away Kevin Durant. Though trading him away was the right call, I thought it meant the end of the possibility of the Devin Booker era championship parade.

Now, the New York Knicks are champions. Their best player is a small point guard who many thought would never be able to be the best player on a championship team. Brunson certainly has his limitations, but the Knicks mitigated them through excellent teambuilding.

If they can do it, so can the Suns.

The offseason has begun, Suns fans. Given the current roster construction, it is likely to be a quiet one but you never know what could happen. I am holding out hope for a Jalen Green trade, but if you fire up the trade machine, you’ll find that the right move is a bit difficult to find.

Still, the right moves may be out there. If Brian Gregory can pull them off, the impossible may just become possible.

The next major offseason domino is on June 23rd, when the NBA draft comes around. Curious who the Suns might be drafting?

New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change.

The Knicks’ championship celebration isn’t slowing down any time soon.

After players made appearances on “TODAY,” “Good Morning America” and “The View” earlier today, the Knicks are taking over “The Tonight Show.”

Knicks fan and “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon called the team’s visit “a booking 53 years in the making” in an official statement announcing the team’s appearance on tonight’s show.

In addition to every member of the championship squad — including captain Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges — head coach Mike Brown and the Knicks City Dancers are also set to appear on the episode.

Tonight’s episode of “The Tonight Show” will also feature a performance from the Wu-Tang Clan. The hip-hop group performed during halftime of Game 4, where the Knicks recorded the largest comeback victory in NBA Finals history.

The celebration will continue through this week with the championship parade on Thursday.

When are the Knicks on ‘The Tonight Show’?

The NBA champion New York Knicks will appear on the June 15 episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The show begins at 11:35 p.m. ET.

How to watch the Knicks on ‘The Tonight Show’ for free

If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream “The Tonight Show” for free. One option we love is DIRECTV, which comes with five days free and starts at $34.99/month, with plenty of subscription options and genre packs that include NBC.

You can also watch “The Tonight Show” live for free with a Peacock Premium Plus free trial (seven days, then $16.99/month).

Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post

This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.