Making the Eastern Conference Finals last season has earned the New York Knicks a fair amount of championship goodwill. It’s also raised the stakes in a way that has some wondering whether they’re set up to disappoint—or outright fail.
The Athletic’s John Hollinger recently put together a list of five teams he believes will underachieve during the 2025-26 regular season. The Knicks were on it.
Viewed through the lens of their win-loss projections, Hollinger spotlights a number of various concerns, including the true extent of New York’s depth, its near-complete absence of youthful upside, and whether new head coach Mike Brown will be as committed to winning regular-season games as his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau.
To be fair, the final point is a feature rather than a bug. The Knicks have transcended obsessing over regular-season wins, and Hollinger notes as much. But he also brings up another issue not being discussed nearly enough.
The Knicks can’t bank on being as healthy as last season
“Yes, the Knicks’ top seven players are good and the East is weak, but New York was also mostly healthy last season (Mitchell Robinson being the main exception),” writes Hollinger. “The five starters missed a total of 40 games.”
The Knicks’ durability last year has flown somewhat under the radar. That’s probably because Robinson missed most of the year, and because Jalen Brunson missed a late-season spell with an ankle injury.
Still, only eight teams graded out as losing fewer wins above replacement to player absences, according to BBall Index. That’s not quite the apex of durability, but given the amount of minutes logged by the top of the roster, you can’t help other than to wonder whether the other shoe will eventually drop.
Or maybe it already dropped.
Hart dropped a bombshell on fans at Knicks Media Day by revealing he reaggravated a finger injury he’ll attempt to play through. If he is materially less than 100 percent or ends up needing surgery, it will decimate an already-shallow wing rotation.
This says nothing of the risks incumbent of employing Robinson. The same goes for OG Anunoby. Last season was the first time he missed fewer than 15 games since 2019-20.
New York should use this as more bulletin-board material
Hollinger’s skepticism is not unique to him. Zach Lowe of The Ringer has reiterated how much pressure the Knicks are under. Plenty believe New York made a mistake with the Mikal Bridges extension.
Meanwhile, a panel of coaches, league executives, and scouts polled by ESPN favored the Cleveland Cavaliers to emerge from the Eastern Conference. And not a single participant picked the Knicks to win the NBA title.
Caveats abound here. In the ESPN poll, for example, only the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets received championship votes. But when you are operating at this level, even the slightest traces of doubt can speak volumes.
In the Knicks’ case, the consensus is clear: People in and outside the league believe they’re a good team, but not a great one. It’s up to New York to prove them wrong.