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Jul
Team Profile
New York Knicks: Five things you need to know
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New York Knicks: champions again, and an Australian chasing a place
- The Knicks beat San Antonio 4-1 to win the 2026 title, their first since 1973.
- Jalen Brunson won Finals MVP after scoring 45 in the clinching game.
- Sydney guard Will Johnston played Summer League for the champions in 2026.
The New York Knicks are NBA champions for the first time in 53 years.
For Australian readers the connection is thinner than most, and more interesting than it looks. The last Australian to wear this jersey was Luc Longley, the first Australian to play in the NBA, who finished his career at Madison Square Garden in 2001.
Twenty-five years later, an undrafted guard from Sydney spent the 2026 Summer League trying to earn a place with the reigning champions.
Will Johnston is chasing something no Australian has held since Longley walked away.
Australians who have played for the New York Knicks
Luc Longley is the only Australian of consequence in Knicks history, and he arrived at the end.
Born in Melbourne in 1969, Longley became the first Australian to play in the NBA when Minnesota drafted him seventh overall in 1991. He won three championships with the Chicago Bulls between 1996 and 1998, then had brief spells at Phoenix and New York, finishing his 10-season NBA career with the Knicks in 2001.
New York gave him a Summer League place. A two-way contract is the realistic target, and if he earns one he becomes the first Australian on a Knicks roster since Longley.
That is the Australian reason to watch the champions this season.
2026-27 team snapshot
The champions are bringing almost everyone back.
Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart are all under contract. Landry Shamet re-signed on a four-year deal worth USD $24 million, and Jose Alvarado also returned.
The one significant loss is Mitchell Robinson, who left for Boston in free agency. New York answered by signing Andre Drummond from Philadelphia to fill out the frontcourt.
Mike Brown coaches a team that has now won a title and has the core to defend it.
Brunson enters the season as the reigning Finals MVP and Eastern Conference finals MVP, having averaged 32.6 points across the five games against San Antonio.
Why the Knicks matter
Every NBA franchise has a story.
The Boston Celtics built a dynasty. The Los Angeles Lakers became basketball's glamour club. The San Antonio Spurs defined sustained excellence.
New York spent 53 years waiting.
The Knicks are one of the league's founding franchises, based in the sport's biggest market, playing in its most famous building, and between 1973 and 2026 they did not win a thing. They lost the 1994 Finals. They lost the 1999 Finals to these same Spurs. They spent most of two decades irrelevant.
Then a guard nobody wanted at the top of the draft turned Madison Square Garden into the loudest room in basketball.
Few titles in recent memory have been waited for longer, which is what made the 2026 playoff run worth watching from anywhere.
The championship era: Willis Reed and Walt Frazier
The Knicks were founding members of the league in 1946 and waited 24 years for a title.
The 1970 team is one of the most storied in NBA history, built around Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Dave DeBusschere. Reed's arrival from the tunnel on an injured leg before Game 7 of the 1970 Finals remains among the sport's defining images.
They won again in 1973 with Earl Monroe added to the group.
Then the wait began.
The Patrick Ewing years
Patrick Ewing arrived first overall in 1985 and gave the franchise 15 seasons of excellence without a championship.
Under Pat Riley the Knicks became the hardest team in basketball to play against, all elbows and half-court defence. They reached the 1994 Finals and lost in seven games to Houston.
In 1999, as an eighth seed, they made the Finals again and lost in five to San Antonio. That series would take 27 years to avenge.
The long drought
What followed was the least distinguished stretch in franchise history.
There were brief revivals. Carmelo Anthony gave the Garden a scorer worth the ticket and a 54-win season in 2013. Mostly there were lottery picks, coaching changes and a fanbase whose loyalty was tested annually.
The turn came in 2022 when the Knicks signed Jalen Brunson, a move widely questioned at the time.
The 2026 championship
New York finished the regular season 53-29, third in the East, having already won the NBA Cup in December by beating San Antonio 124-113.
The playoff run became the story. The Knicks trailed Atlanta 2-1 in the first round, then won 13 consecutive playoff games, the second-longest single-postseason streak in NBA history behind the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors. They swept Philadelphia and Cleveland on the way through.
The Finals delivered the rest. New York won the first two in San Antonio, lost Game 3 at home, then produced the largest comeback in Finals history in Game 4, trailing by 29 points in the third quarter before OG Anunoby won it with a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.
Game 5 was the lowest-scoring first half in a Finals since 2010. Brunson scored 45, the Knicks won 94-90 in San Antonio, and a 53-year wait ended. They finished the postseason 16-3.
The greatest Knicks of all time
Willis Reed and Walt Frazier are the franchise's founding legends, the men who delivered 1970 and 1973.
Patrick Ewing is the greatest Knick never to win one, 15 seasons of dominance that produced two Finals and no rings.
Bernard King and Carmelo Anthony gave the Garden nights it still talks about.
And Jalen Brunson has done what none of them managed. Signed in 2022 to widespread scepticism, he is now a Finals MVP and the first Knick to lift the trophy since 1973.
Five Fast Facts
1. The Knicks won the 2026 NBA championship, their third title and first since 1973.
2. Jalen Brunson won both Eastern Conference finals MVP and Finals MVP.
3. New York won 13 consecutive playoff games, the second-longest single-postseason streak in NBA history.
4. Game 4 of the Finals produced the largest comeback in NBA Finals history, from 29 points down.
5. Luc Longley, the first Australian to play in the NBA, finished his career with the Knicks in 2001.
Historical Timeline
- 1946: Founding member of the league.
- 1970: Win a first NBA championship behind Willis Reed and Walt Frazier.
- 1973: Win a second title.
- 1985: Draft Patrick Ewing first overall.
- 1994: Lose the NBA Finals in seven games to Houston.
- 1999: Lose the NBA Finals in five games to San Antonio.
- 2001: Luc Longley finishes his NBA career with the Knicks.
- 2022: Sign Jalen Brunson.
- 2025: Win the NBA Cup, beating San Antonio in the final.
- 2026: Beat San Antonio 4-1 to win a third NBA championship.
Looking ahead
The hard part is done, and the harder part starts now.
New York returns its entire starting five, a Finals MVP at point guard and a coach who has just won a title. Mitchell Robinson's departure is the only meaningful subtraction, and Andre Drummond was signed to cover it. Defending a championship in the Eastern Conference will be difficult, but no team is better placed.
For Australian viewers the season has a small, specific storyline attached to it. Will Johnston has a Summer League audition behind him and a two-way contract in front of him. If he gets it, he becomes the first Australian to play for the Knicks since Luc Longley in 2001.
A quarter of a century is a long time between drinks. So was 53 years.
