Could This Finally Be the Knicks' Year to Win It All?

The New York Knicks have not won an NBA Championship in over 50 years, but 2026 could be their year.

Allow me to explain.

Obviously, a team not winning the championship means another team beat them. So let's take a look at how the Knicks lost the last 2 seasons to see what could stop them this season:

2023-24 Playoffs

In the 2023-24 playoffs, the Knicks defeated the 76ers and then lost to the Pacers in 7 games in the conference semi-finals.

Pretty much anyone who's not a Pacers fan will admit that the Knicks would have easily won this series if they were not injured.

Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson missed all of the playoffs, OG Anunoby missed games 3-6, Josh Hart had a strained abdominal muscle, and Jalen Brunson fractured his left hand and missed a lot of game 7.

It's pretty impressive that this injured of a Knicks team still took the Pacers to 7 games.

This was a really good Knicks team, and there's really no telling how far they could have gone if not for injuries.

In the offseason following this, the Knicks traded away Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo and acquired Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, who have both been great additions.

2024-25 Playoffs

In the 2025 playoffs, the Knicks first beat the Pistons 4-2 in the first round.

In the conference semi-finals, they defeated the Celtics, despite being considered heavy underdogs. Celtics fans' excuse for this loss is that Tatum tore his achilles in game 4, when in reality the Knicks were going to win the series anyway. Tatum tore his achilles at the very end of a game 4 that the Knicks were already going to win. This means the Knicks were already going up 3-1 in the series, so it is extremely unlikely that the Celtics were going to come back, even if Tatum didn't get injured.

After this, the Knicks faced the Pacers in the Conference Finals and lost the series 4-2. There was no excuse for this loss, as the Pacers simply outplayed them. (along with a few lucky shots)

However, here is where things get interesting:

While the Pacers defeated the Knicks in the conference finals last season, they might not even make the playoffs this season. The Pacers' star player, Tyrese Haliburton, will not play at all next season due to his Achilles injury, so the Pacers are no longer a team the Knicks really need to worry about.

Yes, that gives the Knicks a way better chance of winning the Eastern Conference.

But you may be thinking, "Ok, but what if they can't beat the Celtics this year?" Well, they don't really need to worry about that too much either because the Celtics' star player, Jayson Tatum, is also expected to miss most of next season due to his Achilles injury.

With both the Celtics and Pacers not being a factor, I believe the only team left with any chance of stopping the Knicks from making the finals is the Cavaliers, who had the best record in the conference last season.

Last season, the Cavaliers won all four matchups against the Knicks, but I don't believe they are that much of a better team, especially since some of those games were very close, and the Knicks are even better now.

Last season, the Knicks' bench was decent, but not the best. It became clear in the playoffs that the bench did not have enough offensive power. However, the Knicks made some strong moves this offseason that should help with this problem.

The Knicks recently signed Jordan Clarkson and Malcolm Brogdon, who have both previously won the NBA 6th Man of the Year Award, which will definitely increase the offense of the team's bench.

Given the current Knicks team, I definitely think they can defeat the Cavaliers in a playoff series (just like they did 2 years ago). The Cavaliers also tend not to play as well in the playoffs as in the regular season.

Now, let's say the Knicks were to defeat the Cavs in the conference finals. The 2 two teams with the highest odds of winning the Western Conference are the OKC Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.

As for the Nuggets, the Knicks beat them both times that they faced each other last season, so I definitely think they could win a series against them.

As for the Thunder, they would be more of a challenge. They are the defending champions and also beat the Knicks in both of their matchups last season. However, both of these things were also true about the Celtics last season, and the Knicks still ended up beating them.

So while I'm not going to claim the Knicks are going to win it all next season, this is the best chance they've had in a very long time.

That's all for now, folks! ✌️

#KNICKSIN26