Knicks Get Little Love in NBA GM Poll

General managers across the NBA were down on their New York Knicks picks in a poll conducted by the league's official site.

Pressed with a series of 49 questions, GMs didn't have much love for the 2025-26 Knicks despite many amateur and professional observers pegging them as a potential Eastern Conference favorite: only 30 percent of respondents believe that New York will land the No. 1 seed while the team could only appear in the "also receiving votes" category when it came to who will win next spring's NBA Finals.

To their credit, the Knicks were one of five teams to receive championship confidence and one of two in the East: seven percent claimed that the Cleveland Cavaliers would prevail, tying them for second with the Denver Nuggets, while the Houston Rockets received votes like the Knicks did. Answerers, however, put most of their faith in the Oklahoma City Thunder, who ran away with 80 percent of the title tally.

The Knicks also enjoyed some fleeting individual honors: point guard and captain Jalen Brunson ranked second in the "best leader" category at 13 percent of the vote, behind only tenured Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry. Brunson "also received votes" when it came to the "player you would want taking a shot with the game on the line" in another Curry-led list, even after winning last season's Clutch Player of the Year Award.

Elsewhere, OG Anunoby (7 percent) was also one of 11 players to land a vote in the "most versatile defender" department, a grouping topped by Houston's Amen Thompson. New head coach Mike Brown received votes when it came to who ran the best offense (recurring Knicks playoff foe Rick Carlisle led that list) while his assistants Darren Erman and Chris Jent earned tallies for best assistant, which was paced by former New York target Micah Nori of Minnesota.

Beyond that, however, the poll is mostly bulletin board fodder for the Knicks, who are looking to capitalize on their first run to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000.

New York did place third when it came to having the best "homecourt advantage" in the league, but their seven percent was well-behind the co-leaders Denver and Oklahoma City. The Knicks are also said to be finishing second in the East behind the aforementioned Cavaliers, who topped the group last year.

Perhaps the Knicks could be inspired by the release and hope history repeats itself: last season 83 percent of respondents believed that the Boston Celtics were going to repeat but they, of course, fell to the Knicks in the conference semifinal round.

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