Predicting how the New York Knicks’ 2025-26 season goes is quite an easy task if you compare their roster from last year to this incoming season.
Changing the coaching staff from Tom Thibodeau and his assistants to Mike Brown and his new core gives the Knicks a new playbook and voice.
Adding Jordan Clarkson, Guerschon Yabusele, Malcolm Brogdon, and Landry Shamet (assuming Brogdon and Shamet make the roster) to their already star-studded core that went to the Eastern Conference Finals will expand their roster and depth chart.
New York projects as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and should secure a top-three seed next season.
New York Knicks Games Won Prediction: 62
The Knicks should win at least 60 games next year.
There is leeway for Mike Brown to fail early on, but as the season progresses, the Knicks are too talented to lose games solely because of coaching. Last year, the Knicks won plenty of sloppy games under Tom Thibodeau.
The playoff series against the Detroit Pistons was proof of Thibs’ inadequacies to adjust, game plan, and prepare. Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson bailed their coach out multiple times during the series, hitting huge shots in the fourth quarters of those closely contested games.
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The hope is that Brown will have to deal with far less adversity next year if he implements the right game plan; the right one would be utilizing the talent given to by the front office.
Brown should use Towns as a stretch five, implement purposeful passing, and give Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby more open looks. Thibs did none of this last year, which an ego-driven, ball-hogging Knicks teams that had no continuity or chemistry, yet still made the Eastern Conference Finals.
Eastern Conference Placement: First Seed
The Knicks should not settle for anything less than the first or second seed in the Eastern Conference.
They are arguably a better and a more reliably healthy team than the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs have Max Strus on the shelf with a fractured foot for the first few months of the season. Darius Garland is dealing with his own turf-toe recovery as well.
Cleveland decided not to pay Sixth Man of the Year candidate Ty Jerome and instead traded for Lonzo Ball, who has had a plethora of past knee issues.
Even if the Cavs were able to get the first seed for the second year in a row, their core has never been to the Eastern Conference Finals — they lack the experience of a long playoff run.
Another factor that bodes well for the Knicks is how weak the Eastern Conference is. There is no clear team good enough to challenge the Knicks or Cavs for the number one spot.
The Pacers are without Tyrese Haliburton for the season; the Celtics will not have Jayson Tatum for a lengthy portion of next year (if not the whole year, they have not ruled him out completely); the Sixers, on paper, would pose the biggest threat, but their own lengthy injury history suggests otherwise. The Atlanta Hawks improved their roster this offseason, but it is unclear whether the new players will mesh quickly to push them into a top-two seed.
This year seems like a golden opportunity for the Knicks to stand out above the rest of the Eastern Conference. Time will tell if they take advantage.
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