Before the New York Knicks' opening night loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Ariel Hukporti crossed midcourt and joined his former teammates as their 2025-26 NBA Championship banner was ceremonially raised above the court at Madison Square Garden.
It wasn't NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who presented the members of the title-winning team with their championship rings, though. The team had members and widows of the 1970s Knicks title teams hand out the jewelry to lead executives and coaches, like Leon Rose, William Wesley, Mike Brown, Chris Jent, and Brendan O'Connor. And Walt "Clyde" Frazier, the beloved franchise legend who was crucial to both of the team's previous championship victories, handed each player — including Hukporti — their ring.
On a recent episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective, the show's titular host (and longtime NBA scribe) noted that he can't remember championship-winning brass receiving their hardware from anyone other than the Commissioner. Windhorst cited Silver's "frosty" relationship with Knicks governor James Dolan as making the twist extra interesting. In this scenario, though, it should be okay to put the tinfoil back in the cabinet. It was simply a touching touch from New York.
The issue is reportedly what the boxes contain, not who handed them out
On Thursday night, The Athletic reported that boxes without any rings inside were a late addition to the team's championship ceremony. Windhorst missed the forest, opting instead for the trees.
According to the outlet's Joe Vardon, several Knicks assistant coaches had not yet been fitted for rings as of Tuesday. They learned, the day of the game, that they would not be receiving them during the actual banner-raising festivities at Madison Square Garden, temporarily putting concerns of "it not meaning a thing without the ring" back at the forefront.
It turns out that, according to The Athletic, the only potential issue with the ring ceremony was what was inside of those black boxes — not who was handing them out to Knick executives, coaches, and players. Fans at Madison Square Garden cheered loudly for the wife and son of the late Willis Reed and Dave DuBusschere, respectively. And they loved seeing Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Frazier's partner in the Knicks' Rolls-Royce backcourt.
As a member of the Knicks, Frazier doled out 4,791 assists during his career. The plethora of dimes that led to his pair of championship rings certainly rank among the most important. The ones he racked up on Tuesday, as he handed New York's players their jewelry, may just be the next best. The team may still have some other wrinkles to iron out, though. While fans may be glad just to have "champagne problems" of their own, these particular ones still seem worth solving.
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