Knicks Open as Favorites to Win the East

It's never too early to start thinking about next season, especially with the New York Knicks getting to spend the last several weeks thinking abut how they can fit into next year's Eastern Conference.

They have the chance to do better than tread water, even surpassing some of the more impressive teams they've rolled out over the last few years. They can flat out dominate once they get ahold of their offseason, finally putting together a team capable of making that long-awaited return to the NBA Finals.

While the recently-crowned Oklahoma City Thunder were unsurprisingly picked as favorites to repeat, the first time anyone would have done so in eight seasons, the Knicks were given next-best odds as the likeliest to win next year's east.

It's not the most surprising pick; the Boston Celtics, who gave the Knicks some trouble before they ultimately swiped the then-defending champions out of the way, and the Indiana Pacers, who toppled the Knicks in representing the conference against the Thunder, will both be without their best players in 2025-26, with Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton each set to miss just about the entirety of next season as they tend to their separate Achilles tendon tears.

The only other former contender remaining in the east is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who unraveled against the Pacers in the second round to throw their own future into question. They, like the Knicks, have a lot of work to do this summer.

While it's up to the Cavs to evaluate how their various All-Stars fit together, the Knicks sustain as the last team that's yet to hire a coach. They're expanding their search to some intriguing names, but still have a Tom-Thibodeau-sized hole to fill in the locker room along with their own rotation questions.

They don't have anything resembling near the Thunder's pedigree as a newly-minted top-tier contender, but can very realistically take advantage of their newfound surroundings out east to outdo the big step forward that was the 2024-25 season.