The 2025-26 NBA season is almost here, and all 30 teams are going to have the opportunity to win the NBA championship. Of the 30 teams in the league, there are the obvious teams who aren’t going to win the championship, and then there are around 10 teams that have a legitimate chance at winning it all. However, of these 10 teams, there’s one team nobody’s ready for, and that’s the New York Knicks. In this blog we’re going to find out why the New York Knicks are the most slept on contender in the NBA.

1. The hiring of Mike Brown

Tom Thibodeau just led the New York Knicks to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance since the 1999 – 2000 season, so why did the Knicks fire him? I believe it’s for one main reason: he overplayed his main guys, making them more and more tired as the season progressed. It’s why the Indiana Pacers won in the Eastern Conference Finals. Their players were fresher and thus had more energy so late into the season. The Knicks had 5 players in the top 20 for minutes played per game during the regular season, including Josh Hart playing the most minutes per game in the NBA at 37.6. Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers had nobody in the top 20; the player who played the most minutes for them is Tyrese Haliburton, who was 35th in the league, playing 33.6 minutes. But if we look at Mike Brown’s first season coaching the Kings, he only had two players in the top 50 (De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis) while his team posted the best offensive rating ever at the time. So it’s fair to say that Mike Brown will give the stars more rest and implement a new offense that will feature everybody on the floor.

2. Added depth

This offseason, the Knicks signed two players to team-friendly deals who will be key rotation players for them. They signed Guerschon Yabusele to a two-year, 11.7 million dollar contract. Yabusele played this past season with the 76ers, averaging 11 points with decent defense. He’ll most likely be backing up OG Annunoby or Josh Hart when the season starts so when he comes into the game there won’t be a massive hole on defense. They also signed Jordan Clarkson to a minimum contract this offseason, and he’ll provide much-needed scoring off the bench for the Knicks. Last season, Clarkson averaged 16 points per game and is a decent three-point shooter, shooting 36% from deep last year. When he comes into the game, he’ll take a lot of the offensive pressure off of Brunson because Clarkson also has the ability to create his own shot. These new pieces will give Mike Brown even more options to deploy to give his stars even more rest.

3. Weak East

This year the Eastern Conference is significantly weaker than last year, when it was already weak. Last year, the number one seed in the East, the Boston Celtics, lost their superstar Jayson Tatum to a torn achilles that he’ll spend most likely all of next season recovering from. They also traded away two of their key players, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis for salary relief. Plus, the team that represented the East in the NBA Finals last year, the Indiana Pacers, lost one of their best players in Tyrese Haliburton to a torn achilles, then they weren’t able to re-sign their starting center, Myles Turner in free agency. With these two teams out of the picture, the only true contenders in the East now are the Cavaliers and the Knicks. However, Darius Garland and Max Strus will be out to start the season recovering from foot injuries which will give the Knicks an opportunity to get ahead. The Cavaliers are also currently above the second apron; meanwhile, the Knicks aren’t. This means the Knicks will have more flexibility to make roster moves during the season to improve their team, while the Cavaliers are pretty much stuck with their roster as is.

As shown, the Knicks have a lot to look forward to this upcoming season because of the moves they made this offseason, from bringing in a new coach and acquiring players who will be a crucial part of the rotation. There’s also not a lot of competition in the East outside of the Cavs, so it’ll be interesting to see if the Knicks can take advantage of this and make a championship run in the playoffs. This is why I see the New York Knicks as the most slept on contender in the NBA.

References for Stats and Contracts

1. StatMuse. (n.d.). Last time the Knicks made the Eastern Conference Finals. StatMuse. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/last-time-the-knicks-eastern-conference-finals
2. StatMuse. (n.d.). 2023 NBA team offensive rating rankings. StatMuse. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/2023-nba-team-offensive-rating-rankings
3. ESPN. (2024, October 17). NBA predictions 2025-26: Expert picks, predictions — Western & Eastern Conference Finals, champions. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46079120/nba-predictions-2025-26-expert-picks-predictions-western-eastern-conference-finals-champions
4. Basketball Reference. (n.d.). 2024-25 NBA per game stats. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2025_per_game.html
5. Basketball Reference. (n.d.). 2022-23 NBA per game stats. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2023_per_game.html
6. Basketball Reference. (n.d.). Guerschon Yabusele stats. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/y/yabusgu01.html
7. Basketball Reference. (n.d.). Jordan Clarkson stats. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/clarkjo01.html
8. Basketball Reference. (n.d.). New York Knicks contracts. Retrieved September 12, 2025, from https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/NYK.html