Here's what happened the season after Knicks won their last NBA championship

The 2025-26 Knicks accomplished a feat the franchise hadn’t seen in 53 years: capturing an NBA title.

And while the win made the Knicks the talk of the basketball world and took over NYC for the summer, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby and the rest of the team now have to defend their title — another feat the organization hasn’t had to do in quite some time.

"Not being satisfied is the biggest takeaway moving forward," Brunson said of the mindset of trying to repeat. "We just have to find a way to turn the page and move on. Last year we took everything one day at a time. We know what it takes, going through the same mindset for this journey. It's a new journey. It's a different journey. The approach has to be the same, if not better."

But as we gear up for the start of the 2026-27 season, here’s what happened to the Knicks the last time they entered as the defending champions…

Regular Season

The Knicks had an uneven start, going 6-4 across their first 10 games. But the defending champions found their way, finishing the year with a 49-33 record despite a 4-6 record over their final 10 games.

New York helped themselves by putting together six winning streaks of at least four wins. Although they had eight fewer wins than their championship year, they finished with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, only bested by the Boston Celtics (56-26), who were led by Dave Cowens, John Havlicek and Paul Silas.

Walt Frazier led the team in points (20.5), assists (6.9), steals (2.0) and minutes played (41.7). He finished sixth in MVP voting, was voted into the All-Star Game and made first-team All-NBA and All-Defense.

Dave Debusschere was Frazier’s running mate, averaging 18.1 points and coming down with 10.7 rebounds in his All-Star season. He finished 11th in MVP voting and was first-team All-Defense.

Eastern Conference Semifinals

The Knicks’ playoffs began against the Capital Bullets, a team they defeated in the semis just a year ago — when the Bullets were hailed from Baltimore.

Although New York won the series 4-1 the season prior, the Bullets gave the Knicks all they could handle.

The Knicks had an easy 11-point victory in Game 1 before dropping the next two games by a combined 21 points. On the brink of disaster, the Knicks evened the series, defeating the Bullets 101-93 in OT. The Knicks won Game 5 before the Bullets bounced back to force Game 7. In the win-or-go-home scenario, the Knicks defeated the Bullets 91-81 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

While DeBusschere was great in the regular season, he wasn't as effective offensively in this series. He averaged just 13.9 points, but helped with 9.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. It was Earl Monroe who picked up the scoring slack, averaging 20.1 points — only behind Frazier's 21.0 points — 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. In the clinching Game 7, Monroe led all scorers with 30 points. 

For the Bullets, Elvin Hayes could not be stopped. He averaged 25.9 points, 15.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He was the leading scorer in two games, including his 40-point game in Game 1. 

Eastern Conference Finals

New York would see the Celtics in the ECF for the second consecutive year. However, the results would be reversed.

The Celtics won the series 4-1, defeating the Knicks by double digits in three of the four victories. The eventual champion Celtics were too much for the aging Knicks. Havlicek was the leading scorer in four of the five games in the series, putting up 36 and 33 points in the final two games, respectively. He finished averaging 29.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists. All five starters averaged double-digit points. 

For the Knicks, Frazier averaged 24.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists. DeBusschere started just two of the five games, averaging 9.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Phil Jackson would get the other three starts, scoring 14.8 points and coming down with 5.2 rebounds in the series. 

Despite losing, Frazier understood that the Celtics were simply better.

"If we were going to go out, at least we lost to a great team," he said.

Aftermath

The Knicks' championship window closed in 1974, and the following season they looked unrecognizable. 

Willis Reed’s career would end after the 1973-74 season due to chronic knee injuries and DeBusschere (33) retired after losing in the ECF to the Celtics. The result was a 40-42 record and a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division. The Knicks would still make the postseason, but would fall to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs (2-1). 

A season later, the Knicks were out of the playoffs for the first time since the 1965-66 season.