Gift #3: The Knicks make the playoffs
We all remember Cody, the young Knicks fan whose Christmas wish was for the Knicks to make the playoffs, right? Well, that was Christmas of 2014, the season where the Knicks finished 17-65, and at this exact time they were 5-25. Well, Cody did get his wish SIX YEARS LATER!
The Knicks finally made the playoffs before managing to botch it a season later by having a nightmare of a season partially due to the fact they didn’t have a point guard (and had Alec Burks play point for some strange reason).
That was one of many problems last season, though. Randle also regressed; it took Barrett three months to figure out what basketball was; and Thibodeau coached basketball like he had never watched the sport before. It is what it is.
The Knicks have responded by signing a hardly 6-foot-tall point guard who has very quickly become the best floor general the Knicks have had in decades. Jalen Brunson has given the Knicks some much-needed structure, and now they’re back in the playoff picture.
It would be awesome if the Knicks don’t get starched in the playoffs like in 2021. This time, though, they’ll be led by Brunson, who averaged 27.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in the first round of last year’s playoffs when he helped the Mavs past Utah while Luka Doncic spent part of the series injured.
The Knicks are well over the salary cap at the moment, and Randle and Brunson can both get elected as NBA All-Stars this year, so it’s incumbent that they make the playoffs this year. Missing the postseason after going all-in on Brunson and having three players being paid north of $20 million would not be a good look.