Knicks Open Camp as NBA Champions, Leaning on Mike Brown's Repeat Experience

New York begins the 2026-27 season holding the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time in 53 years, with its title core intact and a coach who has repeated before.

The New York Knicks met the media Monday in Tarrytown as training camp began, holding the Larry O'Brien Trophy entering a season for the first time in 53 years. Their five-game NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs in June made them the league's eighth different champion in as many years, setting up a repeat bid no club has completed since 2018.

Head coach Mike Brown has been part of a successful defense before. He worked as an assistant on the Golden State Warriors staffs that won consecutive championships in 2017 and 2018, and he addressed the difficulty ahead as camp opened. "We can't afford any slippage in our process," Brown said, adding that media scrutiny and comparisons will arrive no matter what, and that the only things in the team's control are "what's our daily habits" and where its focus and energy go each day.

No champion has repeated since those Warriors teams, a drought the NBA's apron-based payroll system helps explain by making it costly for title-level rosters to keep their depth. New York arrives with unusual stability: all five starters from the championship run return, along with 10 of the 11 players who logged the most minutes per game last season.

Reigning NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson said he will approach the season the same way he approached the title run. "The way we approached it last year was to take it one day at a time, every single day," Brunson said, noting that while the coming season is a different journey, "the approach has to be the same, if not better."

The roster did lose one notable piece. Backup center Mitchell Robinson, counted on as the team's defensive anchor and top offensive rebounder, signed a three-year, $47.4 million contract with the Boston Celtics in free agency. New York added veteran center Andre Drummond in response, though replacing Robinson's production is not expected to be a one-player job.

The Eastern Conference around the Knicks also grew tougher. The Philadelphia 76ers added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, the Miami Heat acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Toronto Raptors brought back Kawhi Leonard.

New York will also carry a bullseye after a dominant postseason: a 16-3 record and an NBA-record 283-point cumulative scoring margin over opponents. "We'll be hunted, but we're going to be hunting other teams as well," said forward OG Anunoby, who was part of the Raptors team that tried and failed to defend its championship in 2019-20. "Every team's goal is to win the championship, so I think everyone's in the same boat right now."

Brunson and teammate Mikal Bridges know the repeat chase from college, having won NCAA championships together at Villanova in 2016 and 2018 without going back-to-back. "Not being satisfied, I think, is the biggest takeaway moving forward," Brunson said of drawing on those experiences. "You still wanna figure out how you can grow as a person, as a player."

Guard Josh Hart said the league-wide drought of repeat champions has no bearing on what his team can accomplish. "At the end of the day, we write our own history," Hart said. "That's the past. It has no precedent on what the future is going to hold."