The New York Knicks just won the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973. It was a monumental moment in basketball history, sports history, and New York City history. The team won on the back of OG Anunoby’s grit, Jalen Brunson’s clutchness, and Karl-Anthony Towns’ decision to step up defensively, and now the team is immortalized in basketball lore forever.
However, certain talking heads are already trying to discredit what the Knicks accomplished. New York became the eighth different team to win the championship in as many years, and now questions are swirling about whether this newfound league parity is better than the dynasties of old that fans used to see.
On ESPN’s Get Up, Vincent Goodwill made some interesting arguments about why he’d rather see an era with dynasties, and he pointed at the popularity of the sport when Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics and Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers, followed by Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, were running the league. Eventually, though, Goodwill took his argument too far.
“Oh, you mean participation trophy?” Goodwill exclaimed about the significance of the Larry O’Brien championship trophy. “[It is a participation trophy] if everybody gets one.”
“You mean participation trophy?” – Vincent Goodwill
“I’m sorry, Larry O’Brien is a participation trophy?” – Alan Hahn
“If everybody gets one” – Vincent Goodwill pic.twitter.com/FgqACveIui
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 16, 2026
Alan Hahn was quick to come to the prestigious trophies’ defense, as were Knicks fans.
“It is an actual trophy; you won the league that year,” Hahn rebutted. “You win the title, it is validated, you’re forever a champion… “The difference for me is that you can have rivalries without dynasties.”
Goodwill would go on to say his statement was hyperbole, but Knicks fans will likely never forgive him for such an outlandish statement.
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