Knicks best positioned to benefit from NBA Cup win

Welcome to the NBA Cup, where the value’s made up and the (championship game) points don’t matter.

The New York Knicks have accomplished plenty so far in this young season, viewed by many as their most legitimate championship chance in quite some time. Adding value to the polarizing NBA Cup may be one of their most sterling achievements yet.

Three years into this in-season tournament experiment, no one’s fully sure what to make of the Cup: at best, it’s a way to add a jolt into early season action, which notably has to compete with the last dramatics of the collegiate and pro football seasons. At worst, it’s a cash grab that crowns an artificial champion that leaves a greater impact on Emirates’ marketing budget rather than a team’s historic ledgers.

That creates an aura of awkwardness around the celebrations: the Los Angeles Lakers were widely lampooned for grouping a Cup banner next to their 17 postseason triumphs. Few, if any (and apparently not Giannis Antetokounmpo), in Milwaukee were consoled by the Bucks’ winter victory after yet another first-round exit in spring’s playoffs.

The Knicks’ Cup Status Features Good News and Bad News

Knicks fans may have a rosier view of the NBA Cup than some, as their team is the only one to reach all three knockout rounds. Their third such trip begins on Tuesday night when they head north for a divisional duel with the Toronto Raptors (8:30 p.m. ET, MSG/Prime Video). The winner advances to Las Vegas, which reprises its role as the host of both the semifinal and championship rounds for one more year.

While lucrative in the form of a monetary bonus, that’s led to some dicey situations, such as being forced to play what would’ve been a 42nd road game during the debut showing in 2022 before the NBA stepped in and moved a visit to then-lowly Detroit to 7th Avenue. Falling to the Atlanta Hawks in last year’s quarterfinal allowed the (statistically false) narrative of Trae Young being a Knick killer to live for a few extra weeks.

But considering where the Knicks have been—Jalen Brunson’s magic has made it hard to believe that the denied invitation to the 2020 season continuation at Disney World was only five years ago—a chance to play for any form of championship is appreciated, no matter how artificial.

To put it in perspective: at this time during that cursed 2019-20 campaign, the Knicks were 4-20 and writing David Fizdale’s pink slip. Now, they’ll have a chance to give the orange-and-white banners at MSG some company, as he last bit of Knicks laundry was raised in 2013 in commemoration of that year’s Atlantic Division title.

Of course, maybe that hints at some uncomfortable truths and realizations about the way the last five championship-less decades than Knicks fans would care to admit. But, even in its forced perspective, the Cup gives the Knicks something valuable: training.

The Knicks Can Benefit From the Small Stage

The NBA Cup is essentially like another New York institution: the original edition of “Saturday Night Live,” was famously headlined by the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players,” a moniker that was proven true in name only once its members like Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and more rose to stardom.

The early victors of the Cup have had similar journeys: many were surprised to see an Indiana Pacers group led by Tyrese Haliburton reach the original title game in 2023, but the shock has worn off for Knicks fans … for obvious reasons. Last year’s runner-up, the Oklahoma City Thunder, reached the Cup championship and the rest is history, and the present, for that matter.

This time around, it would appear that the Knicks have the brightest chance to make a statement among the eight going for in-season glory.

Out West, the Thunder and Lakers are more likely to be staging early Groundhog Days, counting down the days until spring before the more conventional bracket is formed. As for the rest, Orlando may be knocking on the door to the Eastern penthouse the Knicks are subletting. But fellow contenders Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Toronto can likely use the knockout berth as a sign that their ongoing rebuilds are trending in the right directions, even though few expect them to reprise such roles in the spring.

The current Knicks, led by Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns resemble the “final form” of a contending team. It’s enough to fall into a situation where adding a superstar like Antetokounmpo is relatively optional. In addition to its Cup prowess, New York is the only team in the NBA to advance at least one playoff round in each of the last three years.

After all that, though it appears that they still need to learn how to win the big ones.

Reaching the conference final round for the first time in a quarter-century was no doubt a respectable landmark, but falling in six to the Pacers left a taste so sour that the head coach responsible for it was cast aside. Considering what has transpired in the early stages of this season, some feel the Knicks should’ve run away with the top seed in the East. Instead, they’re 2.5 games away from the surging Detroit Pistons, a team they vanquished in last year’s opening round.

In short, the Knicks are in no position to turn down any championship setting and must be capable of rejecting its manufactured nature. The prior two Cup tournaments have given them even more motivation: watching Young roll invisible dice on the famed triangle emblem at MSG last season was bad enough. The inaugural showing saw them get mauled by Milwaukee by a 146-122 final. That has denied the Knicks a Vegas trip to date despite their status as the most seasoned veteran of the knockout event.

The NBA Cup is not meant to be three spirits visiting a British miser at Christmastime: one can’t get full redemption in a single night.

But New York could use another precursor, another prequel, another “ahem” moment to inform the NBA world that this isn’t your father’s Knicks, your older brother’s Knicks, heck not even your Knicks as the championship chase presses on. That’s not to say there haven’t been any yet (knocking off the defending champion Celtics was an emphatic statement that partly led Boston to tear down some of its 18th championship foundation) but a few more can’t hurt, especially in the holiday season defined by excess.

How can New York inch a step closer to fulfilling its identity of “The City That Never Sleeps” despite snoozing at the Larry O’Brien Trophy presentation for over five decades? It better get up for the Cup.