The New York Knicks won the NBA Cup by dominating the Spurs… but will not display it. According to the New York Post, the franchise decided not to hang a banner celebrating this success at Madison Square Garden, thus becoming the first titled team in this competition to make this choice. A celebration deemed “appropriate” is planned before the next home match on Friday, but without a lasting symbol on the ceiling of the room.
Officially, the message is clear: the Knicks want to focus on the real objective, the NBA championship title at the end of the season. In a franchise which has not won the Larry O’Brien trophy since 1973, the idea would be not to elevate the NBA Cup to the rank of a major success, unlike the Bucks and the Lakers, winners of the first two editions, who had chosen to honor their success with a banner.
But behind the scenes, the decision could also be political. James Dolan, owner of the Knicks, has never been a big defender of the NBA Cup project, carried at arm’s length by Adam Silver. Refusing to hang a banner would then be a subtle way of reminding us that, for New York, this competition remains secondary, even dispensable…
The happiness of the Knicks after their victory in the final, the words of Brunson
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