Good morning! Media day happened! Basketball is back! Loud noises! Here we go…
Top 10 Quotes from Knicks Media Day
As Josh Hart finished up at the podium, answering a question about whether unresolved contract issues might impact the team’s performance once they start playing games, we got our first “you can’t write this shit” moment of the 2026-27 Knicks season:
The power went out.
According to those in attendance, the streetlights surrounding the facility were also dark, so this wasn’t a case of Knicks PR trying to nip a potentially controversial answer in the bud. Hart was also the last of the five starters to sit before the assembled press, so thankfully no one else had to fulfill their media day obligations by candlelight.
Coming in, we knew there would be questions directed at both him and Karl-Anthony Towns regarding potential extensions that have yet to be agreed to, and the same will be true of Deuce McBride whenever he takes the stand. In this sense, media day was a choose your own adventure book. If you came in wanting only to concern yourself with talk of extensions, aprons and the like, you got more than enough to chew on. If you wanted a slightly more wide-reaching perspective, there was some of that as well.
For today’s purposes, I did my best to split the baby. Yes, I think the contract stuff matters a lot and nothing the players said should diminish the mild concern that already exists. If anything, it upped the ante ever so slightly. But there was also a bunch more that I found interesting, starting with my favorite quote of the morning from the guy who usually has the least interesting things to say1:
1. “It was the longest, shortest summer ever” - Jalen Brunson
Putting this at the top not only because I found it to be a wise summation of life at its most hectic, but because it emphasizes the most important thing we should all start to wrap our minds around: none of these players (with the possible exception of 2019 NBA champion OG Anunoby) have ever experienced a summer quite like this, and thus, no one has ever experienced a season like the one they’re about to get.
To a man, everyone said all the things you’d have hoped to hear from a starting five about to defend its title. That’s a great start. But I still wonder about the impact of an immensely busy summer, not just on Brunson, but on everyone. I can only imagine how the last three months have gone, with everyone wanting a piece of these guys, wanting to thank them, to get a moment of their time, and to let them know how much they changed everyone’s lives. I’m sure they wanted to savor every second of it, knowing it may never happen again. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of these guys need a vacation from their vacation.
In that sense, maybe camp couldn’t come soon enough. Either way, I’m sure this season will bring challenges unlike any they’re currently anticipating, regardless of how ready they think they are. To that end…
