New York Knicks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Community Shootaround: Knicks’ Title Drought

December 18th, 2025 at 9:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks finally stood atop the NBA world this week, even if it was just the in-season tournament. Winning the NBA Cup was a nice way to head into the holidays but the franchise and its fans are looking for something much bigger – a trip to the Finals and the Larry O’Brien trophy.

They reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season for the first time in a quarter century, only to get knocked out by the underdog Pacers. They haven’t sniffed the Finals since the 1998-99 season, when the Spurs’ Twin Towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan bounced them in a five-game series.

As their long-time fans know, the Knicks haven’t hoisted the trophy since 1973, when the iconic starting five of Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe carried them past the Lakers.

The Eastern Conference certainly seems ripe for the taking. The Pistons have been nothing short of marvelous during the first two months of the season but they haven’t won a playoff series since 2008.

The Cavaliers, who rolled to the top seed in the conference last season, are hovering around .500. Perhaps a young team like the Magic can get hot at the right time but currently the Knicks are a solid favorite to come out of the East.

Via trades and free agency, the Knicks have assembled a formidable starting five (or six, if you count Mitchell Robinson) in Most Valuable Player candidate Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart.

Offensively, they rank in the top five in points and 3-point shooting while keeping their turnovers down. Defensively, they rank in the top five in field goal percentage.

Their bench may be somewhat underwhelming, though they have some veteran pieces. Their ability to make moves is severely hamstrung by the fact that they’re hard-capped and barely below the second tax apron.

That brings us to today’s topic: Is this the season the Knicks finally reach the Finals again and perhaps even win the championship for the first time in 53 years? If not, what do you think will hold them back?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

NBA Announces All-Tournament Team For 2025 Cup

December 18th, 2025 at 12:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks guard and NBA Cup Most Valuable Player Jalen Brunson is among the five standout players named to the All-Tournament team for the 2025 Cup, according to an announcement from the league (Twitter link).

The All-Tournament team, which was voted on by 20 media members and is based on players’ performance in both group play and the knockout round, is as follows:

Jalen Brunson, Knicks (20 total votes)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder (18)
Karl-Anthony Towns, Knicks (12)
Luka Doncic, Lakers (11)
De’Aaron Fox, Spurs (11)

Brunson led the Knicks to this year’s NBA Cup title by averaging 33.2 points and 5.8 assists per game with a .531/.462/.658 shooting line in six games, including Tuesday’s final. Towns complemented him by putting up 21.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per night in his seven Cup outings, shooting 48.4% from the floor and 37.1% on three-pointers.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 32.6 points, 6.3 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in six Cup games before his Thunder were sent home in Saturday’s semifinal. He also had a scorching hot shooting line of .595/.481/.877 in those games.

Doncic’s Lakers were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but he put up monster numbers in his five Cup contests, including 36.2 PPG, 10.0 APG, and 7.6 RPG per game, plus a 44.2% three-point mark.

Fox helped guide the Spurs to the Cup final by averaging 22.3 PPG and 7.7 APG while converting 39.5% of his three-pointers.

Magic wing Desmond Bane, Knicks forward OG Anunoby, and Spurs teammates Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama were among the players who just missed the cut for the team. The full voting results can be found right here.

Knicks Notes: Possible Trade Targets, Brunson, Depth, NBA Cup

December 17th, 2025 at 10:55pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Knicks are coming off an exhilarating win over the Spurs to clinch the NBA Cup, but their focus remains on the NBA Finals. With an expensive roster and few trade chips outside of their core players, it’s unclear how or if team president Leon Rose will go about addressing any weaknesses he feels exist on the roster, but at the moment, the front office is happy with how the team is playing, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.

“As we sit here today, the Knicks are not in a rush to make a huge deal,” Begley said in the latest episode of The Putback (YouTube link).

Begley reiterated previous speculation that the Knicks would be interested in making an offer for Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado if New Orleans makes him available. He adds that New York would likely be one of a number of teams with interest in Dennis Schröder if the Kings decide to move him, but notes that Schröder’s larger cap hit (and multiyear guarantee) could make the logistics of a deal more complicated.

Begley also mentions several big men the Knicks could pursue as backup insurance for the oft-injured Mitchell Robinson, noting that the team has shown interest in Sixers backup Andre Drummond in the past.

We have more from the Knicks:

Jalen Brunson was named MVP of the NBA Cup tournament, joining LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the first three players to win the award. As Steve Popper for Newsday writes (subscription required), Brunson took the opportunity to display his leadership and team-forward mindset. “Can I say something?” Brunson said after receiving the award. “OG Anunoby, Tyler Kolek, Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, they played their [butts] off tonight. Without them, we don’t win this. We got down 10, whatever it was and we found a way to win. That’s it. That’s going to be our motto going forward. We’re going to find a way.”
Head coach Mike Brown offered high praise for his star point guard’s approach. “He’s an unbelievable competitor, but an unbelievable teammate,” Brown said. “I’ve been around those guys. You’re talking about Tim Duncan, Steph Curry, those guys, [De’Aaron Fox, James]. Those guys all mention their teammates because bang, bang, bang, they know this is a team sport at the end of the day.“
Part of what made the Knicks’ defeat of the Spurs so exciting is the proof of concept it showed of Rose’s main focus this offseason: adding depth that could help swing a game when things got tight, writes Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. It was last season’s loss to the Pacers team New York will face on Thursday that prompted the directive to create a second unit that could survive for stretches, and even without Miles McBride and Landry Shamet, the Knicks showed on Tuesday that their bench could do just that. Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Kolek combined for 29 points on 5-12 shooting from three, and Robinson contributed 10 offensive rebounds and two blocks while bothering Victor Wembanyama on drives multiple times. By following the lessons taken from the Pacers, Winfield writes, the Knicks have managed to level up last year’s Eastern Conference Finalist squad.
The Knicks have chosen not to raise a banner for their tournament win, but what they’re taking home is far more valuable, according to Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post, who says the NBA Cup championship is a statement to a national audience that they belong in the conversation of true title contenders this season. The Knicks beat the team that handed the Thunder their second loss of the season, and according to Vaccaro, people are taking notice.

Knicks Notes: Banner, Hart, Brown, Robinson, Kolek

December 17th, 2025 at 11:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks and Lakers raised banners in their arenas after winning the first two NBA Cups in 2023 and 2024, and head coach Mike Brown told his players prior to the 2025 final on Tuesday that the Knicks would do the same if they won.

However, the team has reversed course on that plan, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post, who reports that the Knicks won’t hang a banner for this year’s NBA Cup championship after all. A league source tells Bondy that the decision was made because the Knicks are “focused on the bigger picture.”

The team will still celebrate winning the in-season tournament before Friday’s home game against Philadelphia, Bondy writes.

Here’s more on the NBA Cup champs:

The Knicks have won nine of 10 games since reinserting Josh Hart into their starting five. As Vincent Goodwill of ESPN writes, Brown referred to a November meeting between him and Hart as an important turning point. “I was open and honest,” the Knicks’ head coach said. “He hadn’t played a lot in the preseason because he got hurt early on, so I didn’t have a great feel for how to use him, when to use him, what his game was completely like.” Brown added that Hart took accountability for not playing up to his usual standard early in the season and said the candor in that meeting helped their relationship grow.
While Brown was focused early in the season on implementing his own offensive system, rival coaches believe he has pushed those changes less aggressively as of late and has been more inclined to simply let his players do what they do best, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. “The first 10 or 12 games, it felt like they were running more,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Now, it seems like they’re settling into personnel. They’re playing a little bit more to the strengths of their main players, but at the same time try to implement ball movement and body movement. Obviously, they’re a very talented team, so it’s the right thing to do to focus on the strengths of those guys and let them be who they are.”
OG Anunoby (28 points) and Jalen Brunson (25) were the Knicks’ top scorers in Tuesday’s NBA Cup victory, but a handful of reserves provided crucial contributions off the bench. Bondy of The New York Post singles out center Mitchell Robinson, who racked up 10 offensive rebounds in just 18 minutes of action, while Jared Schwartz of The New York Post takes a look at the contributions the team is getting from second-year guard Tyler Kolek, whose 14 points and five rebounds on Tuesday would be career highs if the game had counted toward the regular season.
In case you missed it, we wrote earlier today about the Knicks players who benefited most from the $531K bonus for winning the NBA Cup.

The Knicks Players Who Benefited Most From NBA Cup Prize Money

December 17th, 2025 at 8:17am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks‘ team salary this season is nearly $208MM, which is the second-highest figure in the NBA, behind only the Cavaliers ($228MM+). However, five of the 14 players on New York’s standard roster are on minimum-salary contracts, while a sixth is earning just slightly above the minimum.

So while the $530,933 bonus for winning the NBA Cup may be a drop in the bucket for the highest-paid players on the Knicks’ roster, like Karl-Anthony Towns ($53.1MM), OG Anunoby ($39.6MM), and Jalen Brunson ($34.9MM), it represents a significant pay raise for the players on the lower half of the Knicks’ cap sheet, as well as the players on two-way contracts who will receive bonuses worth $265,467 apiece (50% of the full prize share).

The NBA Cup prize money results in at least a 14% raise for each of the following Knicks players, whose 2025/26 base salaries are noted in parentheses:

Players receiving a $530,933 bonus:

Jordan Clarkson ($3,634,153)
Landry Shamet ($3,080,921)
Pacome Dadiet ($2,847,600)
Tyler Kolek ($2,191,897)
Ariel Hukporti ($1,955,377)
Mohamed Diawara ($1,272,870)

Players receiving a $265,467 bonus:

Tosan Evbuomwan ($636,435)
Trey Jemison ($636,435)
Kevin McCullar Jr. ($636,435)

The bonuses for Diawara and the Knicks’ two-way players represent a raise of more than 40% on their respective base salaries.

None of this prize money will count against the salary cap, so the Knicks’ team salary for cap, tax, and apron purposes remains unchanged, as do the team salaries for San Antonio and the other six clubs who made the knockout round of the NBA Cup. Their prize money is as follows:

Spurs: $212,373 per player ($106,187 for two-way players)
Magic and Thunder: $106,187 per player ($53,094 for two-ways)
Heat, Raptors, Lakers, and Suns: $53,093 per player ($26,547 for two-ways)

Knicks Win 2025 NBA Cup; Jalen Brunson Named MVP

December 16th, 2025 at 10:40pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks won Tuesday’s NBA Cup final, defeating San Antonio, 124-113, to claim their first in-season tournament title.

Star point guard Jalen Brunson was named MVP of tournament, the NBA announced (via Twitter).

Brunson’s statistics in the championship game were fairly run-of-the-mill by his lofty standards; he finished with 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds in 41 minutes, but shot just 11-of-27 from the field and committed four turnovers. However, he was awarded MVP not only for his play in the final but for the group stage and knockout rounds as well.

According to the league (Twitter link), 20 members of the media selected the MVP and Brunson was nearly a unanimous winner, earning 19 votes. Knicks forward OG Anunoby, who had an outstanding final (29 points on 11-of-17 shooting, nine rebounds, three assists), received the other vote.

As Law Murray of The Athletic tweets, the Spurs were up 11 points with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, but the Knicks rallied behind major contributions from reserves Mitchell Robinson (15 rebounds — including 10 offensive — in 18 minutes), Tyler Kolek (14 points, five rebounds, five assists in 20 minutes), and Jordan Clarkson (15 points in 27 minutes).

Brunson made sure to credit Anunoby, Robinson, Kolek and Clarkson after he was awarded MVP. “Without them, we don’t win this,” Brunson said, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Rookie guard Dylan Harper scored a team-high 21 points for San Antonio in the loss, and also matched a team-high with seven rebounds.

Head coach Mike Brown told the Knicks before the game that a banner would be raised in Madison Square Garden if they won, notes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (via Twitter).

NBA Considering New Site For Cup Final

December 15th, 2025 at 2:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA Cup could be leaving Las Vegas.

The league is strongly considering a different site for next season’s championship game, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reports. NBA officials have been underwhelmed by the neutral-site approach, which they feel has lacked the energy and enthusiasm they hoped it would generate.

The league announced in September that this would be the last season that both the semifinals and championship game would be played at a neutral site. The eight games in Vegas across the last three seasons have mostly been played in front of less than capacity crowds. The atmosphere also hasn’t been the same as the home games played in the quarterfinals, Bontemps adds.

Other than the neutral site approach to the semis and finals, the league has largely accomplished the objectives that led to its creation. It has led to increased attention to the league during the early portion of the regular-season schedule and the players have largely embraced it.

The Knicks and Spurs will square off for the in-season tournament championship on Tuesday.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Brown, Kolek, NBA Cup Final

December 14th, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

In a league whose teams are increasingly seeking ball-handlers with size, Jalen Brunson‘s scoring mastery makes him something of a modern-day unicorn for the Knicks, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.

“He’s got good pace, and he’s really smart. He doesn’t really get too bored with the game,” said Magic guard Jalen Suggs. “He doesn’t get too bored keeping it simple. He challenges you every possession. He’s one of the best players in our league. I love the fact that we get to play him four times a year. I’ve gotten better from our battles.”

Only seven players are currently averaging more points per game than Brunson, and of those seven, Edwards says, only two do so at a similar height: Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey, both of whom possess athletic gifts that Brunson cannot replicate. That’s why Edwards refers to Brunson as, “pound for pound,” the best scorer in the NBA.

Despite Brunson’s All-NBA level play in recent years, skeptics continue to question whether a guard of his size can lead a team to a championship. As Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, the Knicks star is beginning to win over some of those doubters.

“No one thought that a team shooting a lot of threes could win a title until Golden State did it,” said Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade. “Charles [Barkley] is always talking about, ‘You can’t win shooting threes.’ So obviously anything is possible. Is it hard? Yes. It’s really, really hard. So that just means for Jalen to be as great as he needs to be, that means everybody else around him needs to get better. … But it is yet to be seen. We’ve got to see it, too.”

We have more from the Knicks:

This year’s version of the Knicks has proven more resilient than in previous seasons, and much of that is due to new head coach Mike Brown, opines Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. Brown’s insistence on playing with pace has made New York’s offense less predictable, and his emphasis on hitting first in terms of physicality has made the team’s defense less toothless than last season. “I think our physicality is extremely better,” Josh Hart said. “When you’re able to be physical on the perimeter, you’re able to throw teams off what they do and now your defense is more impactful. You can be in passing lanes and do those kinds of things, protect shots at the rim. So I think our physicality is something that’s driving that, and that’s something we have to do.” Winfield notes that between those changes and getting Karl-Anthony Towns to play his best on defense, Brown may be laying the groundwork for a third Coach of the Year campaign.
Miles McBride‘s ankle injury has given Tyler Kolek an opportunity to prove that he can be the backup point guard the Knicks need, and Saturday’s win against the Magic was a step in the right direction, Bondy and Jared Schwartz write for the New York Post. Kolek was a team-best plus-17 in his minutes and was on the court for a crucial part of the game at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, as the Knicks took control. “Tyler did a fantastic job today, our young fella, of impacting winning,” Towns said after the victory. “He did that on a big stage tonight. I think one of his finest games as an NBA player was tonight, and may not show up on the stats sheet, but everybody in our locker room knows how important he was to us tonight.”
The Knicks are trying to prove that they belong among the NBA’s true contenders, and Tuesday’s matchup against the Spurs in the NBA Cup championship will be a key battleground for them to do so, writes Steve Popper for Newsday. The Spurs knocked off the league-best Thunder in their semifinal matchup and have managed to hold onto the fourth-best record in the Western Conference despite battling injuries and having a core group of players that skew very young. Popper suggests that a disappointing performance could give the Knicks an indication heading into trade season that some adjustments to the roster might be needed to secure a spot in the NBA’s upper echelon of contenders.

Yabusele On Limited Knicks Role: ‘It’s Very Difficult’

December 14th, 2025 at 9:41am CST by Rory Maher

Guerschon Yabusele‘s first season with the Knicks hasn’t gone the way either side envisioned after the team signed the veteran big man to a two-year, $11.25MM contract over the summer.

After averaging 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists on .501/.380/.725 shooting in 70 games (27.1 minutes per contest) with Philadelphia last season, Yabusele’s numbers have dropped considerably in 2025/26. He’s averaging just 3.0 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 24 appearances (9.8 MPG), with a shooting slash line of .400/.295/.600; more than half of his field goal attempts have been threes.

Prior to Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal against Orlando, Yabusele admitted to a level of frustration with his limited role in a French interview with AFP and Basket USA (story via Ouest-France; hat tip to Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops).

“I don’t want to lie to you, it’s very difficult,” Yabusele said. “I’m a competitor first. It’s not a situation I thought (I would be in) coming here.”

Yabusele, who turns 30 years old on Wednesday, played in Europe for several years after a two-season stint with Boston early in his career. He says he’s staying positive despite the difficult circumstances, and credits the Knicks’ supportive locker room for helping him remain upbeat.

“I try to be ready whenever my name is called,” Yabusele said. “I try to control my impact on the court, no matter how much time I get.“

Knicks, Spurs Advance To NBA Cup Final

December 14th, 2025 at 8:11am CST by Rory Maher

Behind game highs of 40 points and eight assists from star guard Jalen Brunson, the Knicks defeated the Magic by 12 points on Saturday in Las Vegas to advance to the final of the NBA Cup, also known as the in-season tournament.

“When you have an MVP of the league candidate in Jalen Brunson, you know, 16-for-27, 40 points, he makes the game easier for everybody,” head coach Mike Brown said, per Vincent Goodwill of ESPN. “That’s what MVPs are supposed to do, and he definitely did that tonight.”

Karl-Anthony Towns (29 points on 9-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds) and OG Anunoby (24 points on 8-of-13 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, three steals) were among the other standouts for New York.

Jalen Suggs led Orlando with 26 points and seven assists, but he was forced to leave the game in the third quarter due to a left hip injury.

The other semifinal matchup featured San Antonio and Oklahoma City. The Spurs emerged with a two-point victory over the defending champions, ending the Thunder’s 16-game winning streak in the process.

As Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com details, while four Spurs finished with 20-plus points, the primary takeaway from the game was the play of big man Victor Wembanyama, who was making his first appearance in a month after missing the past 12 games due to a left calf strain. Coming off the bench for the first time in his career, the French star finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, with San Antonio outscoring OKC by 21 points in his 21 minutes.

“It’s our first time playing [with] everybody [healthy],” Wembanyama said. “We were already a solid team already more than 20 games ago. It’s just experience. We’re just figuring it out. And the difference with us and [Oklahoma City] is we haven’t had this many reps recognizing what it takes to win. And this is our next step.

“This OKC team, they’re not just first in the league. They’re way ahead of everybody. And when you watch them, no matter who, whether it’s the 12th man or the starting five, whether they’re playing against the 15th seed or any kind of game, they’re playing the same way. They’re enjoying the little things that make them win, and this is the next step we have to pass.”

The final between New York and San Antonio will take place Tuesday at 7:30 pm CT in Las Vegas, the NBA announced (via Twitter). Both teams are currently 18-7.