won their first NBA championship in 53 years<\/a>, defeating the Spurs to win the Finals in five games and cap off what Richard Jefferson called \u201cone of the most remarkable runs in NBA history\u201d.<\/p>\nGoing all out \u2014 clearing $30 million in cap space \u2014 to sign Jalen Brunson as his envisioned cornerstone to build around had plenty of critics. Most thought he was a nice player, but did not see him as a face of the franchise worthy of how aggressively they pursued him.<\/p>\n
Trading RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley \u2014 two homegrown, burgeoning stars who enjoyed success with the team \u2014 for OG Anunoby split the fanbase. Anunoby at the time was seen as a strong 3-and-D piece but had never been an All-Star and was injury-prone.<\/p>\n
Sending five first-round picks to the crosstown Nets for Mikal Bridges became one of the most controversial moves in local history. That kind of haul should be reserved for a Giannis Antetokounmpo-level superstar, most argued, not a third or fourth option. Were they overpaying to bring in a Villanova buddy?<\/p>\n
“I’m in AWE!” Brunson’s NBA Title moment | 01:13<\/p>\n
Even the Karl-Anthony Towns trade was contentious. Julius Randle, though he had his detractors, had been at the centre of the team\u2019s rise out of the gutter into a playoff team. Donte DiVincenzo was a fan favourite and part of the original \u2019Nova Knicks trio. Towns had plenty of pedigree but carried a reputation \u2014 one that Brunson said was \u201cunfair\u201d \u2014 of being soft and not necessarily a winner. His previous co-star, Jimmy Butler, thought little of him.<\/p>\n
And, lastly, firing Tom Thibodeau \u2014 after reaching the conference finals last year \u2014 and hiring Mike Brown brought all sorts of second-guessing, right up until they reached this year\u2019s Finals.<\/p>\n
But Rose never wavered in his belief. He never speaks publicly, but rather operated behind-the-scenes to put together a group whose parts fit together perfectly, regardless of what all the armchair executives said at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been an absolute, no matter what happens going forward, I don\u2019t care what happens going forward, he\u2019s been an absolute joy to work with,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHis family\u2019s been great. His wife, my wife, they get along fantastic. That synergy between me and him, our two wives, it helped the whole organisation align horizontally and vertically. That\u2019s what you have to have in these situations, especially when things get tough. He\u2019s not going to waver.\u201d<\/p>\n
His rise was unique. He did not come from a scouting or player evaluation background. He did not have front office experience.<\/p>\n
New York Knicks centre Karl-Anthony Towns, right, hugs forward Og Anunoby during the after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo\/Darren Abate)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Rose\u2019s prominence came from the other side of the industry \u2014 as one of the most powerful agents in basketball. His client list \u2014 which included LeBron James for seven years \u2014 read like an All-Star roster. He had connections all across the league.<\/p>\n
And he made those connections and amassed that influence with his shrewd personality. It is not something fans or anyone on the outside ever gets to see, given his lack of public availability. Most probably don\u2019t even know what his voice sounds like.<\/p>\n
But that personality has been key to his success. And it trickles down to his players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re an agent, I think anyone who knows the sports agency business, it\u2019s all about relationships,\u201d Towns said. \u201cWhat Leon is one of the best in the world at is having genuine, loving relationships with people. I think because of that, you see the way our team acts, the way our team conducts itself. We conduct ourselves like family, and he\u2019s always had that family mantra in everything he\u2019s done. Doing that, I think that\u2019s real. The connectivity, the unity this team represents every single night regardless of what the deficit is.\u201d<\/p>\n
That winning feeling. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Hiring agents rather than front office executives is a growing trend across sports. Bob Myers, who built the dynasty Warriors teams, was the most prominent example to kick it off.<\/p>\n
Rose can be the next great success story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a great basketball mind,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cI also think he surrounds himself with good people. The way he\u2019s been able to do this, especially here with all the scrutiny people do to him and everything \u2014 I just think the way he goes about his business is as good as anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rose is certainly a man of mystery.<\/p>\n
But at this point, there\u2019s not much doubting his work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"None of the moves were clear slam dunks. Every one of Knicks president Leon Rose\u2019s biggest decisions brought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735521,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-735520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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