The scene inside Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday night showed how quickly things have flipped for the defending champions. Tyrese Maxey cruised in for an easy dunk as Philadelphia fans chanted MVP, and LeBron James, acquired in the offseason, sealed the 76ers' 98-93 win with a late tip-in. Josh Hart walked off with a bloody bruise atop his head after the Knicks' fourth loss in seven games.
New York sits 3-4 and eighth in the Eastern Conference, with the league's 22nd-ranked offense. Last spring, the Knicks won 15 of their final 16 playoff games, 13 in a row, and opponents crumbled whenever their runs began. Now teams simply wait them out, confident an opening is coming.
"One thing I see, when we get those runs, we start to look like the team we've been in the past," Jalen Brunson said after a 111-102 loss to Orlando on Oct. 25. "[Then] we get a little comfortable. We've got to continue to put our foot on the gas and execute like we did last year."
Coach Mike Brown conceded his team has been lethargic but is preaching patience. "It's like climbing a mountain. You know, sometimes you go 100 yards, but you might get knocked back 5 yards," he said. History is daunting: the NBA has crowned eight different champions in the past eight years, the longest parity stretch in league history, and only last season's Thunder escaped the second round while defending a title.
The problems extend off the court, too. The Knicks tabled all contract extension talks on Oct. 9, leaving three core players in limbo. Hart has a team option and said on media day there had been no discussions on a new deal. Karl-Anthony Towns is eligible for a four-year, $276 million extension, but the team's offer sat at $200 million when talks stopped, a pay cut from his current $220.4 million contract. Owner James Dolan said this summer that New York would not dip into the punitive second apron.
Then there is the ring saga. News broke more than a week ago that Knicks assistant coaches did not receive their championship rings on opening night, and some employees still waiting were sent a phishing email from Madison Square Garden security announcing their "Employee Championship Ring is here." Asked whether he had received his own, Brown offered only: "I'm not going to talk about that ring stuff, as you can imagine."
The on-court issues are measurable. New York trails only Houston and Charlotte in how often it shoots with four seconds or less on the shot clock, and its 28.8 percent shooting in those spots beats only Portland; the Knicks were the league's best in those moments last season. Mikal Bridges needed four games to make a 3-pointer and seven to even attempt a free throw, and Brunson, the reigning Finals MVP, is shooting career lows from the field and from deep.
Losing Mitchell Robinson, who signed with Boston as a free agent, has gutted the center rotation. Robinson shot 72 percent from the field in 2025-26; Andre Drummond is shooting 46 percent this season after 47 percent a year ago, and James Wiseman is 0 for 5.
The mileage may be catching up. Brunson has played 61 playoff games since arriving in New York, 37 in the past two seasons, and Hart has matched him. Anunoby has 44 postseason games as a Knick and 71 overall, while Towns has 53 across the past three playoffs. The 2025 champion Thunder already have four rotation players out with major injuries. "We all feel the fatigue," Hart said.
The Knicks insist they will not splinter. "Anybody can step up," Miles McBride told ESPN. Towns pointed to last season's 2-9 skid after winning the NBA Cup as proof: "This team continued to fall into each other instead of splitting away." Brown, for his part, says he evaluates the season in five-game increments.
