Banner night: Ranking Knicks’ potential opening night opponents

NBA basketball’s out for the summer, and New York Knicks fans perhaps couldn’t be more annoyed.

The Knicks’ expansive fanbase has no doubt shown full appreciation for the team’s first championship in five decades. OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns hold more sway than any actor or politician could ever hope to command in the city, and the victorious vibes have proven long-lasting despite the relative inactivity on the local men’s basketball front.

Still, many Knicks fans have yearned to see the leaves fall, as their team’s dominant rampage through the Eastern bracket left them only wanting more. The ensuing comeback showcase in the NBA Finals likely only exacerbated that feeling, as has the fact that the Knicks’ roster has remained mostly intact despite a flurry of wheeling and dealing across the Association.

While there have been several jubilant climaxes to the celebrations, many will only be ready to find some semblance of moving on when the championship banner is raised to Madison Square Garden’s rafters.

Presumed patience from those fans may soon be rewarded: Multiple reports indicate that the 2026-27 NBA schedule will be released this month, much to the delight of supporters seeking to chart the Knicks’ road to a repeat. The quest will more than likely begin under MSG’s iconic roof, as the reigning champion is traditionally granted a massive stage to show off its new laundry and jewelry.

Thus begs the question: who is the ideal championship dinner guest, one that will witness the Knicks’ first addition to their finals acknowledgments since 1973? Through their championship runs, the Knicks have generated and triumphed over a plethora of possibilities, 10 of which we rank below by the merits of both drama and satisfaction…

10. Washington Wizards

Rationally speaking, the championship triumph should’ve killed off Knicks fans’ obsession with Trae Young for good. But, perhaps sensing the writing on the wall about his metropolitan legacy, the newly minted Washington Wizard conjured up further animosity this summer.

Young turned a July appearance at Fanatics Fest into an attempt to re-establish his spot in the New York hierarchy of hate, notably making an attempt to tear a Brunson jersey while reminding fans of his showcase in the 2021 playoffs.

Injuries and inconsistency have eaten away at his prime, but he might be in a spot to start playing for something again after the Wizards’ seemingly eternal rebuild also yielded Anthony Davis and top pick AJ Dybantsa. Davis has seemingly spent his summer trying to find ways out of his capital fate though it could be fun to see Dybanta debut against the defending champs.

Of course, Washington will probably have to win at least 20 games in a season to prove it’s even somewhat ready to play in front of a massive audience. Still, the powers that be have often enjoyed adding fuel to this increasingly unreciprocated fire between Young and Knicks, so the new-look Wizards might have to be at least something of a possibility.

9. Brooklyn Nets

Hasn’t Julius Randle been through enough? Some may think the timing’s right for another attempt at juicing the Knicks-Nets rivalry, which welcomes back the Brooklyn-bound Randle after two years off. Randle returns just in time to witness his old Manhattan employers raise their long-awaited banner.

While it’s hard to imagine Randle accepting some of honorary ring (similar to the Indianapolis Colts honoring the departed Edgerrin James after their Super Bowl triumph after 2006), he could rep the legacy Knicks that helped pave the way to the title, a contingent that figures to also include Donte DiVincenzo, Isaiah Hartenstein, Tom Thibodeau, and more. 

Even so, Brooklyn remains a not-ready-for-prime-time player at best, even after an eventful offseason. The Nets may be ready to linger on the postseason outskirts thanks to the additions of Randle, Mikel Brown Jr., and Moritz Wagner.

But that’s hardly enough to land opening night privileges … not that anyone on Atlantic Avenue’s complaining, of course.

8. Miami Heat

The Knicks’ rivalry with the Heat has significantly cooled off despite a recent postseason get-together in 2023. Even so, the banner-raising should be a night of exorcising demons, including those brought about by South Beach.

Facing the Heat would also bring about a sense of irony: the championship parade and other assorted celebrations and acknowledgments, perhaps kept the Knicks out of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes.

New York has endured many a summer where a coveted star from abroad has signed with or been traded to a rival. Usually, it’s ants at a picnic. Now, it’s a mere shoulder shrug before returning to jubilation.

It’s not like Antetokounmpo outright rejected a move to Manhattan. In fact, he reportedly desired MSG as his eventual destination before the Knicks essentially no longer needed his services once their established roster proved championship-worthy.

Still, the Knicks-Heat rivalry always seems to sell, and a few more degrees are added to the animosity now that the would-be Knick Antetokounmpo has taken his talents down south.

7. Detroit Pistons

Following a classic six-game set in 2025’s opening round, many hardwood observers, particularly those of the Eastern variety, were intrigued by the idea of the Knicks and Pistons reuniting on the bracket.

Detroit, however, struggled with the responsibilities of a conference’s top seed: eighth-ranked Orlando took them to the brink in the first round before Cleveland was eliminated in seven, meeting its own dire fate against the Knicks.

Detroit has since watched several staples from the last two teams move on. Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart have long bolted, while Jalen Duren could also move elsewhere with contract talks at a lengthy impasse.

Suffice to say, Cade Cunningham and the Pistons would love to make a firm declaration that they should continue to be included in the conversations about Eastern contenders.

The Knicks likely view Detroit as small potatoes at this point (the aforementioned playoff win more than offsets last year’s winless season series), but an immediate look at the East’s present and future would undoubtedly be thrilling.

6. Atlanta Hawks

It doesn’t come with a banner, but the Hawks are the most recent team to hold a playoff series lead against the Knicks.

That fleeting 2-1 advantage in the opening round is long-forgotten in New York, but it left at least something of an impact in Georgia: the Hawks re-upped with the primary author of that lead, CJ McCollum, on a $21 million deal in an attempt to write the next chapter of their post-Young era.

Perhaps inspired by the Knicks’ ensuing three-game surge, Atlanta further upgraded its defense on the trade block through deals for Lu Dort and more.

Again, it feels like the Knicks should be beyond this kind of animosity, and the Hawks probably aren’t an appropriate draw for the massive stage of opening night/banner night.

Still, it’s fun to consider dark horses for the role of banner night opponent, and getting a chance to spoil the party feels like an appropriate enough reward for their first-round trouble.

5. San Antonio Spurs

The Knicks and Spurs provided the basketball-loving public with five instant classics in June. There will be the obvious temptation to ask each side to pick up where it left off. It would also maintain the NBA’s apparent desire to market Victor Wembanyama as its new face, even after his summer defeat at the hands of the metropolitan.

San Antonio’s excessive attempts at revisionist history would also be satisfied with an instant reunion, while Wembanyama would have a prime opportunity to further mint his status as the latest villain in Knick lore.

Still, opening night tends to focus on what will be, not what was. Finals rematches, after all, are usually reserved for the equally hallowed hardwood holiday of Christmas, though that strategy hasn’t been employed since Cleveland and Golden State did battle in 2017.

4. Philadelphia 76ers

Someone on the internet has no doubt set up a system where one could wager on the Knicks’ opening night opponent reveal as a prop bet. The 76ers would more than likely be the favorite on such a list, considering what has transpired on the other side of I-95.

But the hardwood edition of the New York-Philadelphia rivalry has often paled in comparison to its contemporaries on the diamond, gridiron, and ice. Trying to squeeze yet another marriage out of basketball’s biggest click-attractors — the Knicks and LeBron James — feels like a desperately futile exercise at this point, like convincing Steve Carell to return to “The Office.”

That’s not to say that the matchups between the Knicks and Sixers won’t be must-see TV. Heck, many have already paired the pair in the 2027 Eastern Conference Finals.

For the time being, however, it’s hard to get hyped over the rivalry in its current state, considering that Knicks fans (some of whom may hold continued loyalty to the famed Villanova contingent) have routinely turned Xfinity Mobile Arena into a vacation home.

3. Boston Celtics

Knicks head coach Mike Brown has already earned a permanent place in the most beloved chapters of the franchise’s history books. But the city would perhaps name a bridge, skyscraper, or borough after him if he had the Knicks tip off their post-Mitchell Robinson era by having his team foul the new Bostonian big man mere minutes after the banner is raised.

Getting the Robinson reunion out of the way would also, no doubt, add to the weight of what’s sure to be an euphorically emotional evening.

It was the Knicks, after all, that were forced to watch the Celtics raise their recent 18th championship banner back in 2024. That was but one NBA record that Boston re-established that night, as the Knicks surrendered 29 threes in a 132-109 defeat.

The loss set the tone for a green regular-season sweep, but the Knicks got revenge in the postseason with a 4-2 victory in that spring’s conference semifinals. New York carried that of dominance into last season, winning three of the first four meetings staged after the famous Game 7 shellacking.

Apparently cursed with short memories, Boston boosters claim that a healthy Jayson Tatum would’ve changed the course of the 2024 postseason meeting. Any attempt to fulfill such a prophecy was stifled in the spring when Boston was busted by Philadelphia in last year’s opening round.

With the Celtics taking on several aging headliners (i.e., Paul George, Mike Conley), the spotlight shines brighter on Tatum, who is now teamed up with the tenured Knick, Robinson.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

Attempting to poke holes in the Knicks’ championship is a futile and, frankly, pathetic exercise, especially at this stage in the offseason. One of the few bits of ammo the haters may have left is that the Knicks were fortunate to avoid the then-defending-champion Thunder in the Finals.

Averting Hartenstein’s Thunder is, of course, no fault of the Knicks’, who expertly played the hand they were dealt en route to a Larry O’Brien Trophy hoist. The dominant way they pulled it off suggests that they would’ve brought the boom to the Thunder, which had gone seven games with the Spurs group the Knicks handily vanquished.

After the bashing of Boston and the stifling of San Antonio, only two teams could make any sort of claim to having the modern Knicks’ number. One is Oklahoma City, which has taken six straight meetings from Jalen Brunson and Co., though the Knicks took the Thunder to the brink in an early-March melee at MSG.

The Knicks spent this spring and summer summarily stifling every argument their critics had against them. Why stop now?

1. Indiana Pacers

One of the few comforts Pacers fans have carried over an arduous year-plus is that they remain the last team to get the best of the Knicks in a playoff series.

The season-long absence of modern Knicks nemesis Tyrese Haliburton forced Indianapolis into an unwanted gap year. That allowed New York to handily take its revenge with a 3-1 season series victory in last year’s quartet.

As the losses piled up, Indiana bided its time by acquiring Ivica Zubac from the Los Angeles Clippers, hinting at an attempt to immediately return to the title conversation with Haliburton in tow.

The hype of Haliburton’s return would only increase fortyfold if it were staged at the scenes of his greatest crimes. There’d be no better welcome party than an MSG crowd now armed with bragging rights that come with a Larry that can laud over until Haliburton — or anyone involved with Pacers basketball — earns his.

To top it all off, opening night games are an NBC property until further notice. Barring illness, that would force top broadcaster and metropolitan arch-nemesis Reggie Miller to watch the latest banner raised to the hardwood heavens.