The Knicks haven’t entered a season with this kind of excitement since the days of the Yankees Core Four dynasty.
They begin a new year with NBA Finals expectations, anointed as one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. A core that reached the Eastern Conference finals is back, bolstered by an improved bench featuring Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele.
But to captain Jalen Brunson, that’s just noise. It is irrelevant to what this group wants to accomplish. He’s doing his best to avoid the hype.
“I disregard it, because it doesn’t mean s–t,” the star point guard said Monday after practice. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s not for me to worry about. My worry is practice, my worry is film, my worry is getting better every single day. I don’t have time to think about what people say about us.”
Karl-Anthony Towns had a similar response. Projections and predictions don’t guarantee anything.
So while the Knicks and the Cavaliers are expected to battle it out atop the conference, that doesn’t mean the 2025-26 season will play out that way.
Nobody expected the Pacers to come out of the East at this time last fall.
“All that is, is looking at a crystal ball, hoping that things work out the way the crystal ball says,” Towns said. “We’ve gotta take care of our team and can’t even think about that.”
It begins for real on Wednesday night at the Garden against, not coincidentally, the Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell. It will be a fun early challenge for the Knicks under new coach Mike Brown. An early opportunity to see where they stand against another top contender, even if Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart may not play.
“It’s a good test. It makes us better,” Towns said. “I think both teams would agree, and I’ll say the same that we get to go against the best of the best. You get to see where you stand and also what to work on when you play teams that are highly looked upon this year. So we just go out there and play our best.”
It will be interesting to see how the Knicks look. They went 4-1 in the preseason, but weren’t at full strength. In the final dress rehearsal on Friday against the Hornets, four key players — Towns, Hart, Robinson and OG Anunoby — didn’t play. Brown has warned that it could take time for this group to hit its stride in this new up-tempo style.
So while many of the same familiar faces are back in orange and blue, creating incredibly high hopes within the fan base, there is still some mystery as to what it will look like when the games count for real.
“A lot of things are the same, but some things are different. Yes, we have the same core, but we have some different pieces,” Brunson said. “The voice is different and everything is different from the coaching aspect of it. But the mentality and the approach has to stay the same.
“It’s wanting to win games and wanting to get better, it’s wanting to learn and doing whatever it takes. Those other things are different, but that has to be the same.”
A year ago, the Knicks opener was against the Celtics, and they were crushed, which meant nothing when they eliminated Boston in the playoffs. Wednesday night is just the beginning.
“It’s the first step,” Brunson said, “to hopefully a long way to go.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
