Two-time All-NBA New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson has gotten honest about the risk of complacency heading into a pivotal 2025-26 NBA season.
With the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics seemingly taking themselves off the board by not fully addressing the Achilles tendon tear absences of their two best players, point guard Tyrese Haliburton and power forward Jayson Tatum, respectively, it has fallen to the Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers to pick up the slack as the presumed best remaining healthy teams in the Eastern Conference.
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Last year, Cleveland went 64-18 and secured the East’s No. 1 seed, before being upset in the second round by Indiana.
Boasting four All-Stars in their primes in guards Donovan Mitchell, power forward/center Evan Mobley and center Jarrett Allen (Allen being the only one not to make the 2025 All-Star team), Cleveland struggled through injuries during the playoffs, leaving it vulnerable to a faster, more defensively versatile Pacers squad.
New York actually had more postseason success, despite finishing as the No. 3 seed in the conference with a 51-31 record. The Knicks advanced to the East Finals for the first time since 2000, but fell to Indiana as well.
Still, New York wasn’t satisfied by finishing outside of the Finals proper, and ultimately swapped in Mike Brown for Tom Thibodeau to get a bit more offensive fluidity.
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The Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic made moves to improve, but for now, New York and Cleveland look like the early frontrunners to enjoy deep playoff runs in 2026.
Knicks’ Free Agent Reinforcements This Year
New York has already added solid reinforcements to level up around the margins, having signed free agent vets Guerschon Yabusele and Jordan Clarkson to team-friendly deals in an effort to shore up its flexibility off the bench.
The Knicks have also inked guards Malcolm Brogdon, Landry Shamet and Garrison Mathews to non-guaranteed training camp deals, but as of now can only sign one to a standard roster contract due to cap restrictions.
Still, Brunson for one is not looking to take anything for granted.
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“Hopefully we don’t have that mindset going into the season where we think we’re just going to jump back into the Eastern Conference Finals,” Brunson said in conversation with D.J. Siddiqi of Games Hub.
“We need to be able to go through this process again and continue to get better and to fight to get over that hump.”
The 6-foot-2 Villanova product, who was named Clutch Player of the Year last season, has finished among the top 10 in MVP votes in each of the last two seasons. An improved Knicks run could help him vault up to a fringe contender for that honor this season.
In 65 healthy games last year, Brunson averaged 26.0 points on .488/.383/.821 shooting splits, 7.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 0.9 steals per.
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