By winning the 2026 NBA Finals, the New York Knicks proved they were not in dire need of any improvements. Especially not in the form of blockbuster moves that would alter, or potentially even gut, the team's depth.
That was a tough break for both Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James, who were seemingly set on heading to the Knicks. Neither the Milwaukee Bucks nor the Los Angeles Lakers were offering Antetokounmpo and James what they each wanted. Both felt New York could.
The tables turned when Mike Brown's Knicks banded together to win the title. Both Giannis and LeBron represent myriad answers to some of the NBA's most pressing questions with regard to wins and losses. The Knicks, however, no longer needed help. They figured it out on their own, leaving even Victor Wembanyama in the dust of their 16-3 postseason run, and sent both Antetokounmpo and James into months-long searches for a pivot.
KAT just showed why the Knicks don't need Giannis one assist at a time
Last offseason, the 2021 NBA Finals MVP in Antetokounmpo had interest in leaving the Milwaukee Bucks. He only had interest in joining the Knicks, but no trade ever materialized.
Leon Rose was raked over proverbial coals for "failing" to close a deal with the Bucks, when it was Milwaukee that ended talks in favor of trying to make one of the NBA's more toxic relationships work. Regardless, the Knicks' successful playoff run showed they're already covered when it comes to having an offensively versatile 7-footer that can anchor a league-best defense.
Karl-Anthony Towns had just finished showing it, one dime at a time. Brown's pivot toward Towns' top-of-the-key playmaking saved their season against the Atlanta Hawks — who didn't have the frontcourt to keep up. And it forced the Philadelphia 76ers to pay less attention to Jalen Brunson as an off-ball threat than they would have liked.
Towns' height doesn't mean that Antetokounmpo can't complement him, excellently, on the court. His salary, however, might. For the Knicks to have added Giannis to their title defense efforts without losing Towns, one (or several) of their other key starters would have been involved in any trade. New York's backs aren't against the wall anymore, though, making any of those potential sacrifices unnecessary.
There was only one way for Knicks to be "too good" for Giannis, LeBron
Rich Paul made clear that the Knicks' 2026 NBA Championship effectively took them out of the running for James. It'd be a tough situation for any superstar to disrupt the politics and personnel of a title-winning locker room.
New York, however, clearly has the mindset to make almost anything work. They won that title because of their willingness to accept their strengths and weaknesses — and work together to face their biggest problems head-on.
Adding James, especially on a veteran's minimum contract, was objectively an all-time value proposition. But James isn't any NBA superstar. He'll turn 42 this December, with extra slices of cake needed for the documentary crew capturing every moment of what is most likely the final season of an incredible NBA career.
Had the Knicks not won the championship this season, it would've been hard to argue they were above accepting the inherent "distractions" that come with employing all-time greats.
The reality, though, is that you'll never know. They did win it all.
It's unlikely that each time Antetokounmpo and James don their brand-new Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat uniforms, they'll be thinking about how they were supposed to be orange and blue. But the beauty of it is that Knick fans don't need to, either.
They have a title to fall back on — their first in 53 years. And they have a core of players — all in their primes, and led by the most recent Finals MVP in Brunson — ready to defend it.
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