Knicks' Leon Rose Trusted His Process and Built a Contender Brick by Brick

It took six years for Leon Rose to turn the forever dysfunctional Knicks into a Eastern Conference Champs

Nov 9, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks President Leon Rose sits courtside during pregame warmups prior to the game against the Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

From 1999-2020, the New York Knicks lost more games than any other team in the NBA. They were a punchline and arguably the most dysfunctional franchise in all of sports. Then Leon Rose was hired in February of 2020, and just six years later the Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.

Rose has become one of the most important figures in Knicks history. It’s been a creative, systematic and at times, ruthless rebuild. Rose and his top lieutenant, William Wesley, leveraged two lifetimes’ worth of connections to overhaul the Knicks into Eastern Conference champs.

It’s taken elite front office work and unique roster construction to put this team together without taking the tanking road. New York has gone through an old school step by step process to get here: Lost in 1st round in 2020. Lost in 2nd round in 2023 and 2024. Lost in Conference Finals last year.

You can’t go from 19 wins to contending in five years without bottoming out unless you dominate every margin. Rose and his team built a team that fit what they wanted and didn’t care what it looked like, or if it matched their initial plans. The roster transformation from what Rose inherited to now took plenty of elbow grease.

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The only home-grown players in the Knicks playoff rotation are Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride, who were both second-round picks. Pacome Dadiet is the only homegrown first-round pick on the roster.

The Knicks can become first team in NBA history to win a championship without a single player they drafted in the starting lineup. Four of the five starters were acquired via trade and the fifth starter was signed in free agency. The Knicks built a title contender with players other teams were willing to give up.

The first brick was signing Jalen Brunson, who has become one of the most impactful free agent signings of all time. This journey all starts with Rose signing the diminutive point guard away from Dallas. He got so great so fast and the team got so good so fast that it changed everything about the way Rose built the team.

Brunson is one of the greatest free agent signings in NBA and New York sports history

A few months into Brunson's maiden Knicks voyage, Rose acquired his Villanova running mate, Josh Hart. New York sent a future first-round pick, which became Kris Murray, and Cam Reddish to Portland. Hart gave Batman Brunson his Robin and consigliere to help instill a winning culture New York missed for two decades.

Then came the OG Anunoby trade in December of 2023. The Raptors turned down four first-round picks from the Grizzlies and instead traded him for Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, who were both homegrown fan favorites, and zero draft picks. The deal also coincided with signing McBride to a team-friendly extension later that day.

The summer of 2024 is when Rose pushed all of his chips in the middle of the table. First was offloading five first-round picks to Brooklyn for Mikal Bridges. Rose was building up for this pick-heavy trade for years and pulled the trigger instead of waiting on Giannis Antetokounmpo. It was a calculated overpay in order to add a high-caliber starter while retaining every rotation player.

May 23, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges (25) shoots while defended by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) in the third quarter during game three of the eastern conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

That was followed up by the blockbuster deal of acquiring Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick via Detroit. Both trades had plenty of skeptics, but gave New York another two-way wing and an All-NBA center with Robinson out and Isaiah Hartenstein gone.

Thanks to the reasonable contract Bridges was on these last two years, the Knicks have been able to keep this roster while ducking the second apron, which was masterful work by Rose and cap guru Brock Aller.

To make all of this work Rose received a big assist from Brunson, who took a significant pay haircut ($113 million) that helped allow the full financial formation of this team. The captain is the third-highest paid Knick and it's a story that hasn’t gotten sufficient mention.

Brunson's sacrifice helped make all of this happen

On top of the starters, the bench is buoyed by two home-grown second-round picks, two veteran minimum guys (Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson) and an undrafted guard (Jose Alvarado) that was also acquired via trade.

You can say Rose caught a lucky break with head coach Mike Brown. Jason Kidd was undoubtedly the front office’s first choice. But firing Tom Thibodeau after a conference finals appearance was a much maligned big ceiling bet that took guts. Rose smartly put his faith on a new coach being the difference between being a contender and winning a title.

Rosters aren’t built over a single season. Nearly every move was a meticulous home run that turned the worst franchise in the NBA into these Knicks.