The 2026 NBA offseason has been the wildest in quite some time, with LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo the biggest names on the move. The Philadelphia 76ers officially announced they had signed James on Monday, while the Miami Heat acquired Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks on July 6.
While James and Antetokounmpo are thrilled to be with the 76ers and Heat, respectively, CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn pointed out on X that they both would have preferred to go to the New York Knicks.
“The two most famous players that moved this offseason, LeBron and Giannis, both wanted to be Knicks and are now playing for their backup teams because the Knicks won the title,” Quinn wrote.
That is indeed true. Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul said in the early days of free agency that James, who averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2025-26, would have gone to the Knicks if they hadn’t won the NBA championship in 2026.
It was later reported that James’ camp reached out to the Knicks, but they weren’t interested in signing him. They didn’t want to make a major change this offseason after winning the title and apparently believe that they are still better than the 76ers.
That’s now a team in Philadelphia with James, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and VJ Edgecombe, but the Knicks remain confident. They should also be pretty confident about being better than Antetokounmpo’s Heat. That’s not a team that looks ready to compete for a championship, despite winning the biggest prize available this summer.
Had the Knicks failed to win the championship, they almost certainly would have been a part of the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes and probably would have won. NBA insider Shams Charania had reported they discussed a trade for the two-time MVP with the Bucks last offseason. Multiple sources also told him that New York was the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee at the time.
Despite some pushback, Charania later doubled down, insisting there was a window where the Knicks and Bucks knew Antetokounmpo wanted to play in New York. You’d imagine his stance wouldn’t have changed significantly in a year. With that Knicks door closed, though, Antetokounmpo, who averaged 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in 2025-26, had to look elsewhere and headed to the Heat.
Now, in years past, Knicks fans would have been up in arms about not landing a single star in an offseason where the likes of Antetokounmpo, James, Brown, and LaMelo Ball were on the move. They had seen their team miss out on big names one too many times.
Notably, James turned them down in 2010 and went to the Heat. Then in 2019, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving chose to go to the Brooklyn Nets instead of joining them.
You wondered if the good times would return for the Knicks, and they sure have now. The fact that they didn’t even attempt to go after all those big names and no one is questioning them for it speaks to where they are currently.
The big question, though, is whether the Knicks will end this run of eight different NBA champions in the last eight seasons. The last team to defend the NBA championship was the Golden State Warriors in 2018. It’s going to be difficult to go back-to-back, but you wouldn’t count out the Knicks after all they did this past postseason.
