The New York Knicks spent 53 years waiting for a championship and one summer trying to keep it together. Last season’s run, which included a four-game sweep of Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals, ended with the franchise’s first title since 1973. The title defense starts on Opening Night, October 20, at home against the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m. ET.
The roster that won it is largely the roster that returns. All five starters are under contract, and nine of the top 10 players from the playoff rotation are back. Jordan Clarkson, Jose Alvarado and Landry Shamet all re-signed on below-market deals, and Mohamed Diawara stays as well. The one loss that matters is Mitchell Robinson, who took more than $15 million per season from Boston once ownership made clear the payroll would not cross the second apron. Andre Drummond is the replacement behind Karl-Anthony Towns.
The market has noticed the continuity and still is not sold. Before backing any Knicks number, compare it across RG.org’s online sportsbooks hub, and if you are betting from inside the five boroughs, the New York sportsbooks page lists every legal option in the state.
BET THE KNICKS REPEAT AT FANDUELNew York Knicks Championship Odds
No team has repeated as NBA champion in eight seasons, and the books are pricing New York accordingly: third on the board, level with Philadelphia, and a long way behind Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
MarketOddsSportsbookImplied ProbabilityNBA Champion 2026-27+1000FanDuel9.09%NBA Champion 2026-27+900BetRivers10.00%Eastern Conference Winner+360FanDuel21.74%Eastern Conference Winner+350BetRivers22.22%50+ Regular Season Wins-170FanDuel62.96%Jalen Brunson NBA MVP+4000BetRivers2.44%Jalen Brunson All-NBA First Team+200FanDuel33.33%Karl-Anthony Towns Any All-NBA Team+105FanDuel48.78%Mike Brown Coach of the Year+3000BetRivers3.23%OG Anunoby Defensive Player of the Year+8000BetRivers1.23%
Odds current as of Friday, Sept. 18. Futures move quickly once camps open, so check the live number on the best betting apps before you commit.
FanDuel beats BetRivers on both team markets. A $100 title ticket returns $1,100 at FanDuel and $1,000 at BetRivers; the conference ticket is +360 against +350. The gaps are small, but they run the same direction on both boards, and on a bet that ties up money until June there is no reason to take the shorter price.
The wider picture is more interesting. Oklahoma City is +240 at FanDuel and San Antonio +280, which means the books give either Western favorite roughly three times the Knicks’ chance. In the East, New York is only a hair ahead of Philadelphia (+400 at FanDuel, a matching +350 at BetRivers), a Sixers side that added Jaylen Brown next to Tyrese Maxey over the summer. Boston follows at +550. A reigning champion returning its whole starting five is rarely available as a co-favorite in its own conference.
What Changed: The Second Apron Cost New York Its Backup Center
On paper, no franchise is better placed to spend through the league’s harshest tax tier. The Knicks are valued at close to $10 billion, and Madison Square Garden set ticket-price records during the title run. Ownership still drew the line at the second apron, and Robinson’s eight-year stay in New York ended because of it.
The downgrade is real. Robinson was the rim protector and offensive rebounder who let Towns play away from the basket. Drummond still rebounds at an elite rate, but he does not move his feet the way Robinson does, and that is the sort of gap that costs a playoff game or two in May rather than a regular-season week in January. The front office remains open to adding a third center by trade.
Training camp will settle the rest. There are two open roster spots and roughly $3.27 million of room below the apron, which is enough for one veteran minimum contract and not two. Bruce Brown signed a camp deal on September 16 and profiles as the natural backup to Josh Hart after averaging 7.9 points and shooting 38.5% from three last season. John Konchar and Ochai Agbaji are competing for the same job. If New York wants to keep two of them, Pacome Dadiet’s $2.98 million salary is the obvious piece to move, which would also clear a path to a standard contract for Tyler Nickel, the 6-foot-7 Vanderbilt shooter taken 47th overall.
SHOP NBA ODDS AT FANATICSWhy a Repeat Is Live: Mike Brown’s Offense and a Secret on Defense
The regular-season Knicks ranked third in offensive rating at 119.8 points per 100 possessions. The playoff Knicks were better, leading the postseason at 120.4 against far tougher opposition. The jump came when Mike Brown, in his first season on the bench, started running more of the offense through Towns as a passer. If that role carries over to an 82-game season, Towns is headed for career-best assist numbers, which is why FanDuel’s +105 on him making any All-NBA team looks generous.
The defensive side is where regression could bite. New York held playoff opponents to a league-low 31% from three, yet the quality of looks it allowed suggested a number closer to 36%. Either the staff found something the tracking data cannot see, or opponents simply missed. The Knicks also shot the ball better than anyone from deep in the 2026 postseason. Both ends of that equation are hard to reproduce.
Health is the other swing factor. All five starters played at least 66 games last season and then filled 98% of the available starting spots in the playoffs. Towns’ 75 appearances were his most since 2018-19. With Robinson gone, any extended Towns absence exposes the thinnest part of the roster. His contract is the lone open question off the floor: he is eligible for a four-year, $272 million extension and holds a $61 million player option for 2027-28.
Jalen Brunson and the Awards Board
BetRivers lists Jalen Brunson at +4000 for MVP, ninth on a board led by Victor Wembanyama at +200, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at +350 and Nikola Jokic at +400. The path to cashing is narrow but clear: New York has to finish with the league’s best record, ahead of both Western heavyweights, with Brunson somewhere around 29 points and seven assists a night and the clutch reel to match. FanDuel’s +200 on Brunson making the All-NBA First Team asks for much less and pays a third of the time by its own implied math.
OG Anunoby is the long shot with an argument. He is a two-time All-Defensive selection coming off a Finals run, he should see more of the ball as Towns leans further into a facilitating role, and BetRivers has him at +8000 for Defensive Player of the Year. The problem is Wembanyama at -360 in the same market. An All-NBA Third Team push is the more realistic version of an Anunoby breakout.
Brown at +3000 for Coach of the Year is priced like a man who cannot exceed expectations because expectations are already a title. That is usually how the award works. It only comes into play if New York clears 60 wins.
Dates to CircleOct. 20 vs. Philadelphia — Opening Night and ring night at the Garden, 7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, against the team priced right beside New York in the East.Dec. 25 vs. San Antonio — Christmas at noon ET on ABC and ESPN, the first look at Wembanyama and one of the two teams the market rates above the champions.Jan. 18 vs. Minnesota — the Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee at 5 p.m. ET.Best Bets and Predicted Finish
Best Bet: New York Knicks to win the Eastern Conference at +360 at FanDuel. The champions kept their starting five, swept the conference finals a few months ago, and are being offered at better than 3-to-1 to get back to the Finals. It removes the need to beat Oklahoma City or San Antonio, which is the part of the repeat the market is right to doubt.
Line-shopping play: the title at +1000 at FanDuel, not +900 at BetRivers. Same outcome, 10% more profit.
Value angle: Karl-Anthony Towns to make any All-NBA team at +105 at FanDuel. A bigger playmaking role in the league’s most efficient playoff offense, on a team projected for 50-plus wins, at plus money.
Long shot: Jalen Brunson MVP at +4000 at BetRivers. A small-stakes ticket that only lives if the Knicks take the No. 1 overall seed, but a 40-to-1 price on the best player of the defending champion is generous.
Pass: 50+ wins at -170. The Knicks should get there, but a championship hangover, a thinner center rotation and managed minutes for a core that played deep into June all argue against laying that much juice on a regular-season number.
Predicted finish: 56-26, first or second in the East, and a return to the conference finals at minimum. Whether it becomes a repeat depends on Towns’ health and on whether the front office finds a real backup center before the deadline.
Before locking in a ticket that will not settle until June, compare the full list of US sportsbooks, check current sportsbook promos, and read the reviews for FanDuel and BetRivers. Always bet within your limits.