Like thousands of others, Fat Joe could not believe it. It did not feel real. Only, it was. The New York Knicks finally ended a 53-year title drought and won the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, with Fat Joe witnessing everything unfold.
The popular rapper, who has been a longtime fan of the Knicks, was at courtside at Frost Bank Center in Game 5. He reveled in the celebration after New York clinched the championship, even crashing the postgame conference of Jalen Brunson.
Fat Joe, along with millions of die-hard supporters, has long starved for a title. He sat through seemingly endless failures, dysfunctions, and what-ifs. Now, the wait, no matter how painful and frustrating, was well worth it.
“The lesson is, you can’t buy a championship. You can’t waltz, you can’t get lucky. You’ve got to earn your way to a championship,” said Fat Joe, who was born and raised in The Bronx, in a report from the New York Post’s Ryan Giancola.
“It’s just like when we won, Mr. (James) Dolan gave that speech where he was like, ‘I’m sorry, New York, I was trying,’ you know, ‘I’m sorry it took so long to win this chip.’ That’s how hard it is to be a champion. You’ve got to beat the very, very best.”
The rebirth started with the hiring of Leon Rose as president of basketball operations in 2020. He had the vision and pressed the right buttons, signing Jalen Brunson to a lucrative deal in 2022, trading for Karl-Anthony Towns in 2024, and hiring coach Mike Brown in 2025.
As they say, good things take time.
It took more than five decades for the Knicks, but here they are, back on the mountaintop, savoring the triumph and the adoration of an entire city.
As Fat Joe said in his verse on “New York,” you already know the X is where the team be at.
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