Kevin Durant didn’t need a Knicks jersey to feel the shock of New York’s title run. Like plenty of people around the league, the Rockets star watched the summer unfold in real time and kept waiting for the run to run out of steam. It never did.
In a recent conversation with Speedy Mormon, Durant said he wasn’t sold on the Knicks until the very end of their march to the championship. Even then, the way they kept clawing back left a mark.
“I was on the fence on if they were going to win,” said Durant. “And then they got down every game, and I’m just like, ‘I don’t know.’
And then they started coming back. I didn’t become a believer, to be honest, until the last game.
I was just like, the Spurs would be up 15 points every game, 29 points, and then they’d just come back and steal a game. That’s probably why that was the best championship as a viewer that I’ve ever seen.”
Durant also pointed to how the Knicks did it, not just the fact that they did. He called out the contrast between a veteran group assembled through trades and a roster built through the draft, saying the way New York finished the job made a clear point about the league.
“Not just because of the Knicks brand winning, but just the fashion they won those games in, it was insane. It really showed you the power dynamic in the NBA: a veteran team that was put together through trades vs. a team that drafted everybody that a lot of people would have loved to see win. For the Knicks to do it that way, I felt they made a statement.”
New York finished the regular season 53-29, then caught fire when the games mattered most. The Knicks rolled through four playoff rounds, going 16-3, and then beat San Antonio in five games in the Finals. The engine of the whole thing was Jalen Brunson, who put up 32.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in the series and walked away with Finals MVP.
Then came the move that got Durant talking just as much as the trophy did: Brunson agreeing to a reported $100 million voluntary pay cut.
Durant made it clear he understands the logic, even if it’s not a decision he sees himself making.
“I understand his thought process and why he actually executed that. I can’t put myself in that position and just say, ‘Yeah, I would have done it or not.’
For him to make that decision and come out the way it did, kudos to him. But hopefully he gets that back on the back end,” said Durant on Brunson’s reported $100 million voluntary pay cut.
“I would have gotten talked out of it. I probably would have been like, ‘All right, I’m cool with it.’
I’d have sat down and talked to all my people like I usually do, Rich, all my friends. Like, ‘What?
Are you serious? Why do you need to take that risk when this dude’s a billionaire?’
Nobody would do that.”
He added that the choice sounds a lot different when it’s just a hypothetical, but the money would be hard for anyone to pass up.
“If you just throw that on the table and say, right now, make a choice, nobody would turn that down. But if you sat down and thought about it and they put everything on the table, ‘This will happen in four years if you do this, this is how the team could be built, we could for sure win a chip’, it sounds good when you sell it to somebody that way.
There’s always going to be a hundred that you don’t have. Even if you get it back, it’s like, well, I still could’ve had an extra hundred.
Even if you give me a hundred again.”
With Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby alongside Brunson, the Knicks now have the kind of core that looks built to last. And for Durant, the bigger takeaway may be the one he said he learned by watching from afar: this group can erase almost anything, and Brunson just showed how far he’s willing to go to keep it together.
In Other News...
Mike Breen Identified What Defined The Knicks Under Finals Pressure
Mike Breen stepped into the SNY broadcast booth during a Mets game and used the moment to reflect on the Knicks championship path, zeroing in on the mental side of their 2026 NBA Finals run. What stood out to him was how the group handled pressure as a unit, with playoff-tested veterans and willing role players helping the Knicks absorb the stress of an NBA Finals stage that can rattle even the most talented teams.
Across the first two games against the San Antonio Spurs, New York had to play from behind and still found a way to settle in and make winning plays late. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart each had their turns carrying the load, but Breens point was broader than any one performance: the Knicks title push was built on collective sacrifice, and that showed up every time the game started tilting the wrong way. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Veteran Big Search Just Got More Interesting In Portland
Portlands backcourt depth took a serious hit with Shaedon Sharpe expected to miss six months because of a torn meniscus, and that kind of injury ripple can alter more than just the rotation. For a Blazers team already juggling its roster, the pressure now falls on the front office to make sure every spot is doing real work, especially after claiming center Micah Potter off waivers.
Potters situation is the one worth watching from a Knicks perspective. Portland is over capacity and already has two centers ahead of him, which could make him the odd man out if the Blazers need to clear room elsewhere. If he becomes available, New York has reason to look closely, because the Knicks still have a need for a veteran big man. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Suddenly Look Like A Real Landing Spot For Kelly Olynyk
Kelly Olynyk is still on the market, and the pool of obvious landing spots has narrowed after Golden State used its final roster openings elsewhere. That leaves the veteran big man weighing a familiar kind of late-summer uncertainty, with a handful of teams still in the mix and the chance of a standard contract looking slimmer by the day.
The Knicks, though, suddenly stand out as a place where Olynyk could actually compete for a spot rather than simply wait for one to open up. A training-camp invite or another non-guaranteed arrangement would give New York a low-risk look at a player who could fit into its center depth, and for Olynyk it would create a real path to stick around if he can make the case on the floor. [Read more 🡒]