At one point before the team won a championship, LeBron James was linked to the New York Knicks in what would’ve been an epic team-up.
First Take analyst Stephen A. Smith was here for it, as he revealed on the June 22, 2026, edition of the show. He was “desperate” for a Knicks championship, and luckily, given his longstanding beef with the Los Angeles Lakers star, it never came to them recruiting James to make it happen.
“This is how desperate as a New York Knicks fan I was getting. If the New York Knicks had not gone to the NBA Finals, I was gonna come here on national TV and beg LeBron James to come to New York,” Smith confessed. “I was going to do that. And everybody knows, that’s the last d**n thing I wanna do, but I was gonna beg LeBron James.”
"I was gonna come here, on national TV, and beg LeBron James to come to New York."
—@stephenasmith on how "desperate" he was for the Knicks to win a championship
pic.twitter.com/ySjl85H5Ql
— First Take (@FirstTake) June 22, 2026
He acknowledged that it wouldn’t have likely “worked,” but it wouldn’t have been impossible. He was willing to try anything if the Knicks lost to the San Antonio Spurs.
“Because he’s an unrestricted free agent and the pieces that you have in place, you wouldn’t necessarily have to give up,” he explained, before conceding that it would’ve been “highly unlikely” James would’ve taken a pay cut to join the Knicks.
What worried Smith was the competition within the rest of the NBA. Young teams like the Detroit Pistons, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Houston Rockets weren’t going anywhere. As he said it, “desperate times [call for] desperate measures.”
The Knicks won a championship without LeBron James
Even without James, the Knicks won a championship in 2026. This marked the franchise’s first title since 1973, ending a 53-year drought.
Meanwhile, James is heading into his 24th season in the NBA. He has spent the last eight years of his career with the Lakers. Before that, he had two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and one with the Miami Heat.
The Knicks have a solid starting five. It’s unclear if they are willing to shake things up by bringing James in after winning a championship. James has won four in his career, so he has a championship pedigree. However, the Knicks may want to continue with their nucleus.
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