{"id":931321,"date":"2026-10-17T09:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T09:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/931321\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T09:50:11","slug":"new-york-knicks-chase-back-to-back-banner-in-nba-built-to-stop-dynasties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/931321\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Knicks chase back-to-back banner in NBA built to stop dynasties"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-primary article-summary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">New York has barely stopped celebrating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/sport\/basketball\/new-york-knicks-down-spurs-to-win-first-nba-championship-in-53-years?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">its first NBA title in 53 years<\/a>, and the Knicks are already chasing a repeat in a league that is built to stop one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The NBA has crowned a record eight different champions in the last eight seasons. Rules that make it tougher to stack a roster with superstars have turned the league into a free-for-all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Knicks, however, have a big edge: the band is back together. New York retained their five best players, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns, along with the chemistry that carried them to the title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The off-season\u2019s biggest story was where the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer, LeBron James, would land after splitting with the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The surprise winners of the sweepstakes were the Philadelphia 76ers. James admitted he would have liked to play for the Knicks, but said that door closed once they won the title.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">So the 41-year-old will take his talents to Philadelphia instead of the Big Apple, although he will reportedly be living part-time in New York and commuting by helicopter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">There he joins Jaylen Brown, who was stunningly traded by the Boston Celtics in the off-season, along with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The question is whether the pieces fit, since all five players are accustomed to having the ball in their hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThey are like a room that has five beautiful couches in it,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst told ABS-CBN News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cBut you don\u2019t need five couches in a room. You need a couch and a chair, a table, a TV and a mirror, and that\u2019s going to be a challenge. Can they all fit, or do you have to put one couch up along the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">James could hardly have a more dramatic debut. The four-time NBA champion opens his Philadelphia career at Madison Square Garden on Oct 20, just after the Knicks raise their championship banner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">His teams have often started slowly in his first season with them. If that happens again, Philadelphia\u2019s famously impatient fans may not wait long to let everyone know how they feel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The payoff could be historic. A title in his record-extending 24th season would make James the first player to win championships with four different teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">But the San Antonio Spurs, with Victor Wembanyama in their ranks, will want revenge after a bitter Finals loss to the Knicks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Wembanyama and the Spurs were predicted to win the 2027 title with the French superstar taking Most Valuable Player honours in an NBA team general managers\u2019 survey released earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In the 25th annual survey, general managers answered 48 questions and could not vote for their own team or personnel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Spurs were ranked the top choice as champions for the upcoming campaign by 50% of the 30 executives, with Oklahoma City Thunder second on 43% and New York and Philadelphia also receiving votes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Last season, Oklahoma City won the poll with 80% of general managers picking the Thunder to retain the title they won in 2025. REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York has barely stopped celebrating its first NBA title in 53 years, and the Knicks are already&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-931321","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\/931321","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=931321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}