The Knicks Raise Their First Banner in 53 Years Tonight. LeBron James and Jaylen Brown Are the Welcoming Committee.
The New York Knicks will raise a championship banner at Madison Square Garden tonight for the first time since 1973. Then they have to play LeBron James and Jaylen Brown.
New York beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in June for the franchise’s third title, ending a 53-year wait. Jalen Brunson was Finals MVP. Mike Brown coached it. The rings go out and the banner goes up before a 7 p.m. ET tip against the Philadelphia 76ers, with NBC and Peacock on the air from 6:30.
Philadelphia spent the summer building the least sentimental possible audience for that ceremony.
The Sixers Added LeBron and Jaylen Brown Three Weeks Apart
Brown arrived from Boston on July 6. The Celtics sent him out and got back Paul George, first-round picks in 2028 and 2031 and two future second-rounders. Brown had roughly $185 million left on the five-year, $304 million extension he signed in 2023, which tells you what Boston was really solving for.
James committed to Philadelphia on July 24 on a reported two-year, $8 million deal, his 24th season. He had told the Lakers on June 30 that he was not returning, and he described the Philadelphia choice as his “last decision.” He starts tonight 27 regular-season wins short of passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in league history.
Nick Nurse says his center is available. “Joel is ready to go,” Nurse said Monday of Joel Embiid, before adding that opening at the Garden on banner night is “a pretty tough test to start with for the group, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.”
Rookie guard Labaron Philon Jr. was blunter. “They’re getting their rings,” he said. “I would say you can’t get better motivation than seeing that, then stepping on the floor and playing against them.”
Nobody Has Repeated Since 2018
The last team to win back-to-back championships was Golden State in 2017-18. That is the number hanging over a Knicks team that mostly stood still: Andre Drummond replaced Mitchell Robinson, who left for Boston, and the front office tabled extension talks with Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart earlier this month. Hart is not on tonight’s injury report.
Philadelphia arrives with three listed as questionable, per beat reporter Keith Pompey: Dean Wade with an ankle, Anfernee Simons with a hamstring and Adem Bona with a foot. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, another summer addition, gave the Sixers’ internal pitch before shootaround. “We’re all we’ve got all year,” he said.
This Is the Night the NBA Should Have Been Running All Along
The league is opening with its first tripleheader, all three games on NBC and Peacock. Boston at Detroit went off at 3 p.m. ET, the Knicks and Sixers follow at 7, and Oklahoma City at San Antonio closes it at 9:30 in a Western Conference finals rematch. NBC executive Justin Byczek said the network pushed for it: “We kind of challenged the NBA. We think opening day should be expanded, and we’d love to be the network that gets behind it.”
He was right, and the middle game is why. Carmelo Anthony, who spent seven seasons at the Garden without getting close to this, told SNY on Monday night what he expects from the crowd. “You’re going to have a lot of people in there that are shocked, still can’t believe it actually happened,” Anthony said. “I think it’s going to be very emotional. I think you’ll see a lot of tears in there.”
Then the lights come up and Philadelphia, a franchise that has not won a title since 1983, gets to spoil it with a 41-year-old chasing a record and a wing who was traded for salary relief. Give me the Knicks tonight, on emotion and on the fact that Brunson is the best player on the floor in the fourth quarter. Give me the Sixers in a seven-game series in May.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
