The Knicks won a ring and broke the league doing it.
No superteam. No "Big 3" splitting touches. Just 10 guys who knew exactly who they were led by a second round pick nobody thought was a "1A".
Now look at what the East just did.
Giannis to Miami. Kawhi back to Toronto. Brown to Philly, PG to Boston. LeBron's out in LA and half the league is calling his agent.
Everybody watched New York win it all and took the exact wrong lesson from it.
They think the answer is more stars.
It's not. The Knicks didn't out-talent anybody.
They won because a 6'2 guard who went 33rd in his draft, too small, too slow, not athletic enough, turned himself into one of the best players alive.
And he did it without demanding a trade, without recruiting a superteam, without ever acting like the work was beneath him.
Brunson made everybody around him better. Everyone knew what their role was. Nobody put themselves or their individual desires before the team.
That's the whole trick.
The rest of the league is stacking names on a spreadsheet trying to reverse engineer something they still don't understand.
The formula was never stars.
The formula is chemistry.
Just in: Free agent guard Landry Shamet intends to sign a new four-year, $24 million deal to return to the New York Knicks, sources tell ESPN. Shamet's agent, George S. Langberg of GSL Sports Group, worked with Knicks executives on Monday to land the long-term commitment.
Breaking: Aaron Judge has been diagnosed with a stress fracture on the first rib on his right side, the Yankees announced Thursday.
He will be reimaged in approximately four to six weeks.