Knicks believe they know what it takes to deliver rare NBA championship repeat

The overwhelming trajectory of the NBA is working against the Knicks.They’re out to buck an era-defining trend.None of the past eight champions have repeated the following season; the Warriors in 2017 and ’18 were the last teams to do it, having lost in the 2019 Finals.Almost a decade of parity followed in a league that previously was ruled mainly by dynasties.Why should these defending champion Knicks be any different?“We write,” Josh Hart said during the team’s Media Day on Monday, “our own history.”It’s more than just that none of those teams repeated.

It’s how much — and how quickly — most fell off.“Obviously, it probably shows the significance of the [collective bargaining agreement], the second apron, all those kinds of things,” Hart said.“At the end of the day, that’s the past.

It has no precedent on what the future is going to hold.For us, we’re not really worried about it.

We’re worried about etching our own stories and our own legacies.”The current CBA, particularly with that second apron, makes it difficult for champions to keep their roster together without facing harsh penalties.It’s the main reason the Knicks had to let Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency.Talent has become increasingly spread out across the league rather than condensed on a select few teams.But the Knicks return the rest of their core beyond Robinson, and all still are in their respective primes.“I think we have the confidence knowing that we did do it,” Jalen Brunson said.

“That’s going to help us, but that can also hurt us.So it’s all about how we go into training camp and how we go into these first few weeks to see where we are as a team, and then we’ll be able to adjust or continue to grow.”There is some experience with the situation among the core.

The trio of Brunson, Hart and Mikal Bridges won an NCAA championship together at Villanova.Brunson and Bridges, in particular, experienced the thrill of that championship and w...