The New York Knicks will enter the 2025-26 season with the biggest expectations they have had in the 21st century. Following their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 25 years last season, the widespread belief is that they are good enough to compete for a championship next season.
The Knicks made a flurry of changes in hopes of becoming a title team. This summer, they replaced Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown, taking over as head coach, and they signed Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele to deepen their bench.
Knicks predicted to slightly underperform by Bleacher Report writer
However, despite that, not everyone is sold on the hype surrounding them. Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey predicted that they will win 51 games next season, which matches their win total from last season and is rather underselling their expectations.
“There are only so many wins to go around, and being higher than consensus on one team might mean shaving a win or two off other teams,” Bailey wrote. “That and what feels like a small likelihood of New York being as healthy as it was last season made the Knicks one of the victims of the finite leaguewide win total.”
The Knicks have a star-studded lineup led by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but it is far from perfect. For starters, Brunson and Towns were not good defensively as a pairing last season, meaning that they may need to put Mitchell Robinson into the starting five to help enhance their defense.
It may take a bit for the Knicks to find their rhythm
Furthermore, as Bailey noted, health will be a huge caveat for them. They had the luxury of staying relatively healthy throughout last season, but being that healthy again is not guaranteed.
While injuries cannot be predicted perfectly, it is bold to assume they won’t suffer any major setbacks to the roster for the entire season.
Additionally, it may take some time for Brown to get acclimated to coaching his new roster, and it may also take the players some time to get used to playing in a revamped system. Growing pains are to be expected as they get used to one another, which could contribute to a potentially slow start.
The Knicks have otherworldly potential
However, at their best, they figure to be one of the best teams in the league and arguably the favorite to represent the East in the NBA Finals. They have loads of scoring talent spread across the roster and are now a much deeper squad than last year.
If all goes right for them, they could well surpass their win total from last season and possibly even reach the 60-win benchmark, but that is certainly asking for a lot.
Nevertheless, New York has a chance to prove any doubters wrong and make a serious push at finally snapping their title drought in the 2025-26 season.