You don’t have to get tired of hearing it just yet: the New York Knicks are 2025-26 NBA Champions. Every member of the title drought-ending squad will wind up with a ring, including coaches and executives.
The Knicks’ Finals MVP is the only superstar to change teams in free agency so far this decade. They already owed Nico Harrison for letting their Captain walk.
But a tweet from one ex-Maverick after the Knicks’ closeout win confirmed Brunson wasn’t the only champion they need to cite in their satirical greeting card.
Knicks can thank Mavericks for their superstar — and their health
The team’s training staff, which was honored as the league’s best last season, will also be receiving championship hardware. While most of the staff has been with the organization for several seasons, both Casey Smith and Heather Mau came over from the Mavericks' side of things.
Knicks shooting coach Peter Patton also worked for the Mavericks, before they saw him off to lead the Chicago Bulls' player development efforts. He served in the same role with Chicago that he currently fills in New York.
Smith, the Knicks' Vice President of Sports Medicine, was Dallas' head trainer for decades before being put in charge of health and performance. The good doctor was unafraid to remind the Mavericks that all of those key Knicks -- Brunson, Smith, Mau, and Patton -- once worked in Dallas.
"They said we weren’t a good fit for their culture. Said we weren’t good enough in our roles. Peter Patton, Heather Mau, Jalen. We did and will continue to do the work," Smith wrote on Twitter.
Smith and Mau were both instrumental to the season's worth of work by the training staff to keep the Knicks healthy. Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby both missed time throughout the postseason, but were also available in the biggest minutes of the season against the San Antonio Spurs.
Robinson's injury going into the NBA Finals was not from basketball-related activities, which Mike Brown made relatively clear ahead of the fourth and final series of their playoff run. But he dealt with other injuries that were, perservering all the way through the postseason.
Anunoby strained his hamstring just 20 days before tipping in the game-winning basket in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden. His quick recovery is certainly a testament to his own grit and work ethic, but is impossible to separate from the plethora of feathers falling out of the caps of the Knicks' team doctors.
Sometimes, the healthiest team is the one that winds up winning. The Knicks barely had an edge in that department over the Spurs, but they clearly had enough of one to win in just five games. They can thank the Mavericks for their superstar point guard, something fans started doing years ago.
But they can also thank them, in part, for their health. How do you place a value on that?
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