What All Tanking NBA Teams Should Take Away From Knicks' Title
As celebrations continue for the Knicks' first title in 53 years, New York already has a target on its back as the NBA's newly-minted defending champs. Team president Leon Rose put on a masterclass in roster building over the past few years, from the Jalen Brunson signing to numerous bold trades and an even bolder decision to part with Tom Thibodeau after a trip to the Eastern Conference finals last year.
The Knicks' success and savvy moves proved there's more than one way to build a championship roster in the NBA despite what many teams seem to think with the egregious tanking put on display each year. New York's title roster looks different from those we've seen in the past. And while the team certainly benefits from playing in the biggest market with the most iconic arena, Rose's roster building still provides a less-traveled pathway for success.
With tanking so popular to the point that the NBA is adjusting its lottery and implementing anti-tanking measures next season, the Knicks' title run gave an important lesson to teams currently stuck at the bottom of the standings; there's no singular correct way to build a title team.
The Knicks built a championship roster different than the past five title winners
None of the Knicks' core group of Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby or Josh Hart were drafted by New York. Brunson arrived as a free agent in 2022, while Towns, Bridges, Anunoby and Hart all arrived via trade in seasons following the Brunson addition.
There's normally at least one driving force behind a title team that was drafted and developed by the organization. Even the LeBron James Heat teams had Dwyane Wade, the Kevin Durant Warriors teams had Steph Curry and the Raptors team that traded for Kawhi Leonard and won the title in 2019 still had Pascal Siakam. The only players the Knicks drafted who were in the championship rotation were Mitchell Robinson, Deuce McBride and Ariel Hukporti-contributors, but none were in the starting lineup.
Robinson and McBride specifically were key pieces that helped the Knicks both during the regular season and over the historic postseason run, but it's an oddity that any title team, let alone such a dominant one, won the title without drafting any of its core pieces.
If you go through the past five NBA champions and subsequent Finals MVPs, four of the five were drafted by the organization they won the title with. The only exception was last year when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to the title. Oklahoma City acquired him after his rookie season with the Clippers through the infamous Paul George trade.
| Year | NBA champion | Finals MVP | Drafted by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Milwaukee Bucks | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Bucks (15th, 2013) |
| 2022 | Golden State Warriors | Stephen Curry | Warriors (7th, 2009) |
| 2023 | Denver Nuggets | Nikola Jokić | Nuggets (41st, 2014) |
| 2024 | Boston Celtics | Jaylen Brown | Celtics (3rd, 2016) |
| 2025 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Clippers (11th, 2018) |
| 2026 | New York Knicks | Jalen Brunson | Mavericks (33rd, 2018) |
Even Gilgeous-Alexander had Thunder draftees who were critical to the title run-none bigger than Jalen Williams who had a 40-point performance in Game 5 of the Finals against the Pacers. After Williams, there's Chet Holmgren, Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace, too.
It's an oddity that this Knicks core includes zero starters that the team drafted or acquired on draft night. That's credit to Rose's bold trades and bringing a cohesive group together. Maybe it's an outlier title team (they are the "‘Nova Knicks" after all), but the triumph means opposing teams don't have to settle for seasons upon seasons of mediocrity for the small chance of luck in the draft lottery to build a contender from there.
What lowly NBA teams should learn from the Knicks' title run
As Hart stood on the championship podium next to his college teammate Bridges, he sent a message to the Knicks' fan base and the rest of the league.
"Aye man, forget them picks," Hart said, referring to the haul of first-round picks the Knicks sent the Nets for Bridges. "Forget them picks, dawg. We here, we here, we here."
Josh Hart on Mikal Bridges: "Forget them picks, dawg" #NBAFinalspic.twitter.com/4o6iOu3qa8
- TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 14, 2026
New York mortgaged its draft future to bring Bridges into the fold. The haul that Rose gave up was questioned immediately and even remained controversial to a degree right up until the Knicks hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy. Whether that was worth it is now a foregone conclusion as the organization delivered its long-suffering fan base its first championship in 53 years.
NBA teams are incredibly reluctant to let go of first-round draft capital, almost to a fault. There's still no need to be reckless with coveted first-round picks, but the Knicks' title proves that sometimes a big swing (or numerous big swings) is worth it. Even if that means letting go of exciting young talents and treasured draft picks.
The Brunson signing started it all, and not every team has the fortune of a free-agent pitch as good as New York's; especially with Brunson's dad a part of the organization. New York tried the tanking route for plenty of years and it never came through. The Knicks had an NBA-worst 17–65 record in 2019 and hoped that would lead to prized prospect Zion Williamson, who the Pelicans drafted at No. 1 after moving up in the lottery. New York fell and got the third pick which it used on RJ Barrett, who ended up as a key piece in the trade for Anunoby-now an NBA Finals hero.
New York could have kept kicking the can down the road and hoping for lottery luck to eventually hit. That never came as the franchise got out of the mud little by little, chipping away with one bold move after another. The path to contention doesn't have to come after a steep decline after all. It can come little by little with gradual improvements that eventually lead toward the NBA's mountaintop, just as the newest champions showed us all.
More NBA Finals From Sports Illustrated
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- Why Karl-Anthony Towns Never Trash-Talked Victor Wembanyama During Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals
- Revisiting the Three Blockbuster Trades That Brought the Knicks NBA Championship
- Karl-Anthony Towns Says Fiancé Wasn't Happy With James Dolan's No Sex Idea
- With NBA Title in Hand, Jalen Brunson's Team-Friendly Deal Looks Well Worth It. And He Knows It
- James Dolan's Motivational Speech to Knicks Ahead of Title Run Is His Latest Crystal-Ball Moment
This article was originally published on www.si.com as What All Tanking NBA Teams Should Take Away From Knicks' Title.
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 6:20 AM.