Willis Reed's 1973 team was the last Knicks group to win it all before Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns closed out San Antonio in five games this June. Fifty-three years separate those banners, and the front office now has to defend the new one with a payroll already above the first apron.
The Long Wait
Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Dick Barnett and Phil Jackson delivered the 1973 championship, the last one before this June. Brunson took Finals MVP after New York won Games 1 and 2 against San Antonio, dropped Game 3 at home, erased a 29-point hole in Game 4 and closed it out in Game 5. Fifty-three years sat between those two banners.
The Bill Due
That roster now costs $217.9 million, above the first apron, with Towns, Anunoby, Brunson and Bridges the four biggest deals. The second apron sits at $221.7 million, leaving almost no room to add or subtract in-season. Liam Robbins is already off the camp roster, one small trim before real cuts start.
Old Pattern
Joe Lapchick's teams reached three straight Finals from 1951 through 1953 and lost all three, then collapsed once he resigned in 1956, missing the playoffs all but once through 1966. Patrick Ewing's group reached the Finals in 1994 and 1999 and never got the ring either. Contention here has broken apart before without a trophy to show for it.
Nets' Cut
Brooklyn already owns New York's 2027 and 2029 first-round picks, part of the price for the trades that built this roster in the first place. Every year this group stays together and wins is a year those picks matter more to the team across the river than to the Knicks.
Same Group
The group that beat the Spurs in June is the same group reporting to camp, apron math and all. No trades have hit the books since the Finals. For now, the roster that won it is the roster charged with defending it.
When did the Knicks last win a championship before 2026?
1973, behind Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Dick Barnett and Phil Jackson. That made this June's title the franchise's first in 53 years.
Can the Knicks afford to keep this roster together?
It is tight. The team sits at $217.9 million, above the first apron, with the second apron set at $221.7 million, leaving little flexibility to reshape the roster in-season.
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