Knicks Prepare for Title Defense as Mikal Bridges Steps Into Full Leadership Role
With the starting five intact and a banner waiting to be raised, the Knicks head toward camp carrying expectations no New York team has faced in half a century.
By Alexan SL · August 7, 2026 · 2 min read
TARRYTOWN, N.Y., August 7 — When the New York Knicks report to the Madison Square Garden Training Center at the end of September, they will do so as something the franchise has not been since 1973: defending NBA champions.
Training camps around the league open September 29, with the first preseason games on October 3. For the Knicks, the six weeks between now and then are less about installation than about maintenance — the roster that beat San Antonio in the Finals is, in its essentials, the roster that will try to do it again.
Mikal Bridges, acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2024, enters the season in the most defined role of his New York tenure. The four-year, $150 million extension he signed with the Knicks kicks in this season, and he returns alongside Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart. All five starters are under contract for 2026–27.
Head coach Mike Brown enters his second season with the club. The two-time Coach of the Year was hired in July 2025 after the team parted ways with Tom Thibodeau, and he delivered a championship in his first year on the job — the first for the organization in 53 seasons.
The bench looks different. Mitchell Robinson, the longest-tenured Knick, signed a three-year, $47.4 million deal with the Boston Celtics in early July after chairman James Dolan made clear the team would not cross the second apron. Third-string center Ariel Hukporti left for Philadelphia. New York answered by signing veteran center Andre Drummond to a one-year, $3.9 million contract and re-signing wing Landry Shamet. Apron restrictions limited the front office to veteran-minimum additions from outside the roster.
The Eastern Conference did not stand still. Philadelphia added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown; Miami traded for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Knicks will meet the new-look Sixers immediately.
New York opens the regular season October 20 at Madison Square Garden against Philadelphia, in a nationally televised NBC tripleheader. Rings will be distributed and the championship banner raised before tipoff. The Knicks then travel to Philadelphia on October 30 for the opening night of Emirates NBA Cup group play — a competition they also won last season — and host San Antonio on Christmas Day in a Finals rematch.
Drummond, a Mount Vernon native, addressed the fan base in a social media post after signing. "I know what this city expects," he wrote.