The New York Knicks have climbed the NBA’s mountaintop, and this has been years in the making. The Knicks’ ascent towards breaking their 53-year title drought after finishing off the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 on Sunday night, 94-90, to win the series 4-1 began all the way back in 2022, when they signed Jalen Brunson from the Dallas Mavericks in free agency.
Since then, the Knicks front office has just added to the roster every single year. In 2023, they brought OG Anunoby and Josh Hart in. The following year, New York was ultra aggressive, trading for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges — even giving up up to six first-round picks for the latter.
But now that the Knicks have won it all and have claimed the third championship in franchise history, Hart knows that all the assets they gave up to piece this roster together could not be any more worth it.
“Hey, man. Forget them picks. Forget them picks, dawg! We here!” Hart said on the podium during the trophy presentation for the Knicks.
Josh Hart references the Mikal Bridges trade that sent out four unprotected first-round picks and two first-round picks swaps: “Forget them picks!” pic.twitter.com/GsBjP6H1nK
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) June 14, 2026
It wasn’t even that long ago when the NBA world was clowning the Knicks for giving away so many draft assets for Bridges, a list that includes four unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031), an unprotected pick swap in 2028, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ top-four protected first-round pick in 2025.
Bridges was having such a hard time in the first round of the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, and then something clicked for the Knicks since Game 3 of that series — rattling off 12 straight wins before the Spurs took Game 3 of the NBA Finals away from them.
Bridges may not lead the team in scoring, nor does he pull off the highlight plays that stick with fans’ minds for a lifetime. But he is an essential glue guy who tied this Knicks team together on their way to winning it all.
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