Knicks' Parade Puts Bow on Chaotic and Forever Season

Thursday is the day the greatest city in the world celebrates the greatest New York Knicks team to call Madison Square Garden home since 1973. It's one more day to bask in the glow of this lovable group before the page turns to next season, which starts with an unusually short summer.

Over the next few days talk will move on to the draft, free agency and the offseason at hand. The focus is still on these immortal 2025-26 Knicks, though, who will live forever. The long, twisting journey of this group that started back in early October culminates at Thursday's parade and what a roller coaster ride it's been.

These Knicks will be celebrated for a lifetime

The New York Knicks opened and closed the NBA season. Coach Mike Brown’s team kicked off the 2025-26 preseason during NBA Abu Dubai Games back on October 2. It was so long ago that Malcom Brogdon wasn’t a retired player yet.

That was more than eight and a half months ago. 259 days to be exact. Across that span there were those two pre-season games with Philadelphia across the globe, three additional preseason warmups, 82-regular season games, 1 NBA Cup Championship game and 19 playoff games. That’s 107 games.

Having a parade down the Canyon of Heroes was never fait accompli. The team was 53 games, good for third in the Eastern Conference. There were the highs of starting the season off 23-9, including beating San Antonio in Las Vegas. There were three different winning streaks of at least seven games.

It wasn’t all peaches and cream, however. Everyone remembers the low of nine losses in eleven games and three butt-whoppings against Detroit. There were a handful of no-shows and hiccups against the dregs of the league in Chicago, Sacramento, Indiana and Dallas, which notably fell on Martin Luther King Day and was arguably rock bottom.

There were the trials and tribulations of Karl-Anthony Towns adapting to Mike Brown’s offense. The six-time All-Star went on to question his fit in the offense publicly as late as 75-games into season. Meanwhile, Mikal Bridges went through long stretches of invisibility.

There was OG Anunoby’s hamstring strain and missing time with a toenail avulsion. Jalen Brunson’s tweaked ankle in Sacramento. Deuce McBride needing core muscle surgery and Landry Shamet missing 25 games after re-injuring his damaged right shoulder.

The Knicks went through ups and downs during the long season

The Knicks saw youngsters Tyler Kolek and Mohammed Diawara impress across swaths of increased minutes. There were games when two-way players Kevin McCullar Jr and Trey Jemison III contributed in big ways. There were benchings and rebirths for veterans Jordan Clarkson and Jose Alvarado.

There was the long forgotten about Guerschon Yabusele experiment. The Frenchman was the team’s big off-season signing and he flopped on broadway. He should never buy a meal in this city ever again, thanks to terminating the player option in his contract—which is unheard of and will likely cost his millions of dollars next season—and allowing Leon Rose to work his magic to bring Alvarado, New York’s native son home.

Fans expected this team to flip the switch in the playoffs after going through the motions through the 82-game grind. For three games it looked like more of the same. It took two CJ McCollum jump shots and a 2-1 series deficit in round one against Atlanta, for the Knicks to spawn into the most statically dominant team in NBA playoffs history.

The Knicks went 16-3 in the playoffs and showed thier championship mettle

Following Thursday's celebration, this Knicks team will officially and fully belong to only the record books. No two teams are ever the exact same. Players leave and new players arrive. The majority of the main characters will be back, but it wouldn’t be the exact 15 games that helped erase a 53-year championship drought.

Fast-forward to twenty years from now and these players will be sitting where Clyde Frazier, Bill Bradley, Patrick Ewing, Bernard King, Larry Johnson, Latrell Sprewell, John Starks and countless other iconic Knicks sit watching. They'll be revered Knicks for eternity.

Madison Square Garden’s doors will be open to all of them for the rest of time. Fans will adore and remember each of their names until their last breath. From Jalen Brunson down to Pacôme Dadiet, the 15th man.

The Knicks season went from debating hanging a NBA Cup banner back in December to an NBA Champions banner coming this October. It’s been a wild and long ride from Abu Dubai to City Hall for those that’ve followed since day one. One that ends Thursday but will live forever.

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