It has been 13 years since the New York Knicks raised a banner inside Madison Square Garden. That banner came because New York won the Atlantic Division in the 2012–13 season.
In eight short days, the Knicks will get to raise their first championship banner in 53 years. Walt Frazier was 28 years old when he won his second title with the Knicks. The legendary player/announcer had to wait until he was 81 to witness New York win another championship.
With just a little over a week until opening night, it remains unclear exactly how many new banners the Knicks will hang on October 20.
Will the NBA Cup get rafter love?
Opening night will be an emotional evening for the Knicks and their fanbase. The seemingly endless wait is over. Starting the regular season against the Philadelphia 76ers in eight days, the Knicks will celebrate when their 2025–26 NBA championship banner is raised to the rafters, and they receive their championship rings.
Will that be the only banner that goes up? No, they didn’t win the Atlantic Division, so there’s no banner needed for that, but they are also the reigning Eastern Conference champions. Let’s not forget that they became the third team ever to win the NBA Cup.
Going back decades, New York hung only the championship banner for their title-winning 1969–70 and 1972–73 seasons. Yes, things have changed in the 50-plus years since; that makes it seem as if the team will forgo hanging an Eastern Conference championship banner.
Now, the question remains whether the NBA Cup win gets a place in the rafters. The first two NBA Cup champions—the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks—hung banners commemorating the accomplishment. The Knicks decided against doing so. Shortly after the team won the NBA Cup, James Dolan said that the Knicks would instead hang an NBA championship banner. He will never be the most popular owner, but he proved to be clairvoyant when the Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals.
Perhaps the franchise will change its mind because it became the first team to win both the NBA Finals and the NBA Cup in the same season. Whether they will have two new banners or a small acknowledgment of the NBA Cup on the championship banner remains to be seen.
Personally, I think the Knicks should find a way to celebrate becoming the first team to win the NBA Cup and the NBA Finals with a banner. How they do that is above my pay grade, but the first two teams to win the NBA Cup didn't even get past the first round of the playoffs. Plus, the Knicks defeated the Spurs in the NBA Cup Finals, the same team they beat in the NBA Finals.
Regardless of what happens, it will still be a joyous night before tip-off. There’s a reason why get-in prices have reached absurd levels. Many fans thought this day would never come. Now it’s forever and always: Knicks in 5.
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