ESPN Commentator Labels Knicks Best East Team

The Knicks placed third on last year's Eastern Conference leaderboard behind only Cleveland and Boston. But, as Perkins noted, his original NBA employers in Beantown are in a "slight rebuild" now that Jayson Tatum is out for the season while Perkins himself doesn't "trust" the conference-leading Cavaliers, leading him to be "all in" on Manhattan's finest.

That opens the door for the Knicks, who kept their starting five of Brunson, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, and Karl-Anthony Towns in tact while adding role pieces like Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele. Despite making a change in the head coach's role (hiring Mike Brown in favor of the fired Tom Thibodeau), many, like Perkins, have pegged the Knicks as the preliminary favorite in the East.

"We know OG Anunoby, we know what he's going to bring to the table for them being the 3-and-D guy. At times he looked like Scottie Pippen," Perkins, a 2008 NBA champion and national backer of the modern Knicks, continued. "Josh Hart, he's going to come back on a mission. Obviously, they just re-signed Mikal Bridges and I'm looking forward to seeing what Karl-Anthony Towns looks like under a new voice in their locker room in Mike Brown. I think we're going to see the best version of him."

Though they've ended several dubious streaks since Brunson arrived in 2022, the Knicks have not finished atop an Eastern playoff bracket since 1993. What they've assembled this time around presents not only the best chance to get back there but to the more hallowed ground of the NBA Finals, which has been untouched by metropolitan sneakers since 1999.