The NBA offseason has been a blender. Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami. Jaylen Brown to Philly. Kawhi Leonard back in Toronto. The Eastern Conference looks nothing like it did two months ago. And yet, after all that chaos, one league insider thinks the team standing at the top hasn’t changed.
James Edwards III of The Athletic put it plainly: the New York Knicks are still the favorites in the East. Not because of what they did last June — though, sure, winning the title helps — but because of what they’ve kept together.
“Push aside one of the most dominant playoff runs the NBA has ever seen, look across the Eastern Conference and find me a starting lineup better than Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns. I’ll wait,” Edwards wrote.
That lineup went through the playoffs like a hot knife. New York won 13 straight games at one point and finished off the San Antonio Spurs in five games for the franchise’s first NBA championship in 53 years. That kind of run doesn’t just happen. It builds something.
Continuity matters more than ever
Every team that made a big trade this summer is going to need time to figure out rotations, chemistry, late-game stuff. The Knicks don’t have that problem. They already know how each other plays. They’ve been through playoff pressure together. That’s not nothing.
“New York has a continuity that will take all of these teams time to collect,” Edwards wrote. “What the Knicks did this postseason on the way to their first NBA title in 53 years is synergy in human form. There aren’t going to be kinks to iron out.”
It’s rare to see a team make that kind of run and then just bring everyone back. But that’s essentially what the Knicks did. No major losses. No drama. Just the same crew, ready to go again.
Don’t sleep on the bench
One of the underrated reasons New York won it all was depth. Landry Shamet had huge moments in the playoffs and he’s back. Jose Alvarado stepped up when it mattered and he’s back. Miles McBride quietly became one of the best 3-point shooters in the league and yeah, he’s back too.
“Beyond all of that, a big reason the Knicks won the title is because of their bench play,” Edwards wrote. “Landry Shamet was huge. He’s back. Jose Alvarado came up big. He’s back. Miles McBride is still one of the game’s best 3-point shooters.”
So while everyone else is still figuring out new handshake routines, the Knicks are running the same offense they ran last spring. That’s not a small advantage.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed. The Heat with Giannis are going to be a problem. The Sixers with Brown have a different ceiling. The Raptors with Kawhi have already proved they can win it all. But right now, in August, with training camp still weeks away, the Knicks are still the team everyone else is chasing.
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