The Knicks enter the 2026-27 season in unfamiliar territory.
For the first time in 53 years, New York is coming off an NBA championship. The pressure that comes with that changes the conversation around this team. It’s no longer about whether the Knicks are capable of competing for a title. Now, it’s about just how dominant they can be.
With that in mind, here are five increasingly hot takes for the Knicks’ 2026-27 season.
HM: Brunson Will Have His Best Regular Season
This hot take is an honorable mention.
Jalen Brunson has already reached a level that seemed almost impossible when he signed with New York four years ago.
He is now a champion and Finals MVP after averaging 32.6 points per game during the Finals and finishing the title run with a 45-point performance in Game 5.
But his postseason success shouldn’t overshadow what he could accomplish over 82 games.
Brunson averaged 26.0 points and 6.8 assists last season while earning All-Star and All-NBA Second Team honors. With another year of experience as the unquestioned leader of the Knicks, he has a chance to raise that production even further.
After everything Brunson accomplished last season, saying he’ll have his best regular season yet might not even qualify as a hot take anymore.
But if he does, it could be the next step in what has already been an incredible Knicks career.
5. Towns Will Return to All-NBA form
Karl-Anthony Towns‘ first championship season in New York wasn’t the individual statistical explosion some expected, but his efficiency during the playoffs showed why he remains one of the league’s most dangerous offensive big men.
He averaged 15.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists during the postseason while shooting 55.1% from the field, 45.6% from three and 90.9% from the free-throw line.
The numbers don’t tell the entire story.
Towns has the ability to completely change how a defense can play. A center who can pull a big man away from the basket and punish smaller defenders inside creates opportunities throughout the offense.
The biggest question is whether he’ll be more aggressive with that ability this season.
A return to the version of Towns who consistently threatens defenses as a scorer, shooter, and rebounder would put him back in the All-NBA conversation. He’s already proven he can produce at that level.
4. Knicks Will Be Top 3 in Offense and Defense
This is where the Knicks could separate themselves from the rest of the NBA. Last season, New York already finished third in the league in offensive rating and seventh in defensive rating during the regular season. That jumped to first in both during the playoffs.
New York has enough offensive talent to finish with the league’s best offense.
The bigger question is whether the Knicks can match that production defensively. Anunoby is one of the league’s best perimeter defenders, Bridges can guard multiple positions, and Hart brings physicality and effort every night.
With the team returning most of its core and having another full season to build chemistry, the defense should have a chance to take another step forward.
If everything comes together, the Knicks could finish first in the NBA in offensive rating while also ranking inside the top three defensively. That’s a tough combination to achieve, but a championship team returning nearly its entire core has the foundation to do it.
3. The Knicks Will Win 60 games
Now, we’re getting into true hot-take territory.
The Knicks went 53-29 last season, meaning they would need seven additional wins to reach 60.
The historical significance makes the prediction even more interesting.
New York hasn’t won 60 games since the 1992-93 season, when Pat Riley’s Knicks finished 60-22 and reached the Eastern Conference Finals. It would be the franchise’s first 60-win season in 34 years and would tie the Knicks’ franchise record for regular-season wins.
The Knicks don’t necessarily need to chase 60 wins. Knicks head coach Mike Brown could prioritize keeping his veterans healthy rather than squeezing every possible victory out of the regular season.
But 53 wins already showed that New York can dominate an 82-game schedule.
If the Knicks stay healthy and avoid the type of prolonged stretches that can derail a regular season, seven more wins isn’t an unreasonable jump.
It would also give the Knicks their best regular-season record in more than three decades.
2. OG Anunoby Will Win DPOY
This is the first truly spicy take.
OG Anunoby has already established himself as one of the NBA’s premier two-way players. During the Knicks’ championship run, he averaged 20.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 48.9% from three.
But his biggest impact remains on the defensive end.
In the playoffs, Anunoby averaged 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, showing just how disruptive he can be despite spending much of his time defending on the perimeter.
His ability to guard multiple positions is what makes the Defensive Player of the Year case so interesting. Anunoby can spend one possession battling a star wing on the perimeter and the next switching onto a bigger player without completely compromising the defense.
The competition, however, will be intense.
Victor Wembanyama is the obvious name he’ll have to contend with, thanks to his combination of rim protection, length, and ability to affect shots without even being directly involved in the play. There will also be plenty of other elite defenders competing for the award.
For Anunoby to win, his impact will have to go beyond traditional defensive stats.
If the Knicks are once again one of the league’s best defensive teams and Anunoby continues taking on the toughest assignments, he could put himself firmly in the DPOY conversation.
1. The Knicks Will Repeat as NBA Champions
Here is the hottest take.
Repeating is incredibly difficult. Every team gets an entire offseason to study the defending champion, and the margin for error becomes smaller once expectations rise.
But New York has one advantage that many defending champions don’t: familiarity.
The Knicks aren’t entering this season trying to build a championship team from scratch. They’re trying to do it again with the same group that already figured out how to win four playoff series. That experience matters.
Brunson now knows what it takes to lead a team to a championship. Towns has experienced the pressure of playing deep into the postseason. Anunoby, Bridges and Hart have all experienced what the Knicks’ style of basketball looks like when the stakes are at their highest.
There are still questions to answer, particularly after Mitchell Robinson’s departure and the changes to the center rotation.
But the Knicks don’t need everything to go perfectly.
They need their stars to stay healthy, their role players to continue doing their jobs, and their championship-level defense to travel into another postseason.
New York waited 53 years for its last championship.
The hottest take of all is that the wait for the next one will last only one year.
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