Leon Rose officially started constructing the New York Knicks' championship-winning roster as soon as he was hired as the team's President of Basketball Operations.
The team's first move after the announcement of Rose's hiring was to trade Marcus Morris Sr. to the Los Angeles Clippers for a first-round pick. Rose's front office would go on to use it on Immanuel Quickley, who eventually landed them two-way menace OG Anunoby.
However, things didn't truly start trending in the direction of the Larry O'Brien trophy until New York signed the point guard they'd eventually name Captain: Jalen Brunson. The Knicks were in the process of turning things around before taking a step back in 2022. After adding Brunson, they got closer to the mountaintop with each passing year until getting the job done in 2026.
With the reigning NBA Finals MVP on the roster, and a supporting cast like the one at Mike Brown's disposal in tow, most questions are going to be answered from a basketball perspective. But all good things must come to an end, at some point. What will the Knicks do once Brunson's days of being their savior are over?
Rose's next biggest test will involve finding Brunson's successor
Restoring the Knicks to their once-glorious status of being a championship-level organization was an incredibly tall task for any executive. Rose was given the job without having any experience running an NBA franchise. He wound up succeeding in just six seasons at the helm of the organization.
As a result, New York will spend the 2026-27 regular season trying to defend their title. And with Brunson around, they'll likely be in contention for several years. Once the superstar point guard's heyday comes to an end, though, the front office's challenge will once again become getting a 1A superstar onto the Knicks' roster.
Brunson's father, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, was one of Rose's first clients when he got his start as an NBA player agent in the 1990s. By the early 2010s, Rose was representing most of the NBA's notable superstars.
The chance exists that one of the business relationships that Rose developed, before moving his empire to Pennsylvania Plaza, could wind up coming full circle in New York's search for their next superstar. It's potentially just as likely, though, that the Knicks' next superstar comes by way of a different member of the Rose family.
Rose might find the next Brunson by keeping things in the family
Rose's longtime relationship with Rick Brunson didn't magically land him Jalen decades later. The executive did, however, have a more intimate knowledge of the Brunson family's work ethic and basketball obsession than any other general manager in the league.
The apple didn't fall far from the tree with regard to the former agent's son, Sam, who's a current NBA agent representing stars like Brunson and OG Anunoby. He also represents former Knicks Obi and Jacob Toppin, as well as St. John's star — now Boston Celtic — Dillon Mitchell.
The notion isn't that the younger Rose's clients receive special treatment as a result of their representation. Instead, it's that those players' representation has detailed knowledge of the ways in which playing for the Knicks can benefit their clients.
Is it completely out of the question to wonder if — given the off-court earnings potential, access to an award-winning medical staff, and other perks of playing for the Knicks — Rose might one day suggest his father's Knicks as a potentially-beneficial landing spot to an All-Star client?
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