It's never easy for a team to see one of their players bolt for a direct rival in free agency. The New York Knicks have experienced such a happening on multiple occasions this summer alone.
Though the biggest name to jump ship for a heated foe is Mitchell Robinson, who signed with the Celtics back in July, the latest to do so is Dillon Jones, as he signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the 76ers Tuesday afternoon.
Despite only seeing a total of 39 minutes played during his one-and-done season in the Big Apple, Jones proved integral to the Knicks' 2026 championship run.
As coach Mike Brown publicly noted during an appearance on the Roommates Show this summer, the 24-year-old was "fabulous" this past postseason, as he had a major influence on how New York went about navigating the noise and pressures in pursuit of glory thanks to his past experience with the Thunder during their 2025 title run, and even provided the spark for the now-famous 2025 Eastern Conference Finals rewatch idea.
Based on the opinions of the oddsmakers, Jones joining the stacked, new-look 76ers with the Big Four of LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, and Tyrese Maxey leading the charge gives him a top-flight chance of extending his championship win streak to three-straight.
Of course, the hope is that the Knicks will be able to prevent such a feat from happening this coming campaign.
Former Knicks forward looking to personally three-peat
This past season, Jones managed to win his second-straight NBA Championship. Considering he achieved such a feat with only two years of activity in the association, it was already something viewed as incredibly impressive.
Of course, what makes it even more noteworthy is the fact that it came during an era that has successfully implemented title parity.
Not since the 2018 Warriors has there been a team that's gone back-to-back, while Danny Green served as the last player to win consecutive titles in 2019 and 2020 with the Raptors and Lakers, respectively.
With how 2025-26 turned out, Jones is now officially the latest individual to pull off such a triumphant accomplishment.
Of course, with his recent signing with the wannabe superteam in the 76ers, it's clear that he's now gunning to become the first player of the 2020s to win three straight titles.
The last person to do so was Patrick McCaw, who won two in a row with the Warriors (2017 and 2018) and then with the Raptors (2019).
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