ESPN Picks the Knicks to Win the East — Then Snubs the Defending Champs in NBA Finals Forecast

ESPN predicts the Knicks will win the Eastern Conference but ranks New York behind the Thunder and Spurs for the 2027 NBA championship despite its dominant title run.

The New York Knicks have already done what their doubters spent most of last season insisting they could not do. They survived the Eastern Conference, produced a dominant postseason and defeated the San Antonio Spurs in five games to win their first NBA championship in 53 years.

Apparently, that still is not enough to make them the favorite to do it again.

ESPN’s latest 2026-27 Summer Forecast presents an intriguing contradiction. The panel projects New York as the team most likely to win the Eastern Conference, giving the Knicks 68 points compared with 51 for the new-look Philadelphia 76ers. Yet when those same experts were asked to predict the 2027 NBA champion, New York fell dramatically behind the two Western Conference powers. 

Oklahoma City received 84 points in the championship voting, San Antonio 74 and the Knicks just 11. Philadelphia followed closely behind New York with 10.

So ESPN essentially views the Knicks as the strongest team in their own conference — but also believes whichever Western powerhouse survives between the Thunder and Spurs will probably be too much for them.

For a team that just beat San Antonio four times in five Finals games, that is certainly something Jalen Brunson and company can notice.

Thunder and Spurs Have More Upside, but the Knicks Have Something They Don’t: Proof

The argument behind ESPN’s forecast is understandable.

Oklahoma City remains built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell forming an impressive supporting foundation. The Thunder received 88 points as the panel’s pick to emerge from the Western Conference before taking the top spot in the championship projection. 

Then there is San Antonio.

Victor Wembanyama has already established himself as one of basketball’s defining players, and the Spurs have surrounded him with an increasingly dangerous young core featuring De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. ESPN’s reasoning focuses heavily on the amount of ascending talent possessed by the two Western contenders. 

But projections built around upside have one obvious limitation when comparing those teams with New York.

The Knicks have already won.

Their 2026 playoff run was not an accidental seven-game escape through multiple rounds. New York finished the postseason 16-3, losing only three games on its way to the championship. The Knicks recovered from a 2-1 deficit against Atlanta, then produced a 13-game winning streak before ultimately disposing of the Spurs in five games. 

San Antonio even held a 29-point lead in Game 4 of the Finals and still could not prevent New York from taking a commanding 3-1 series advantage.

That matters.

Potential is one of the most attractive commodities in basketball, but postseason execution remains something teams must demonstrate rather than project.

Brunson has done it. Karl-Anthony Towns has done it. OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart have done it.

Mike Brown has already found a formula capable of carrying this roster through four playoff rounds.

The burden of proof should arguably belong to everyone trying to take the trophy away from them.

Philadelphia Makes the East Harder, but New York Still Owns the Conference

ESPN’s Eastern Conference prediction might actually represent the more important part of the forecast.

The Knicks lead Philadelphia by a meaningful margin despite the 76ers assembling one of the NBA’s most fascinating rosters around LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. New York received 68 points to Philadelphia’s 51, while Boston and Detroit tied for a distant third with 17 apiece. 

The East is undeniably deeper.

Philadelphia has star power. Detroit is coming off a major step forward. Boston remains dangerous. Cleveland, Indiana and Miami all possess enough talent to complicate the playoff picture.

Yet the defending champions remain the panel’s clear choice to survive all of them.

That says something important about how New York is viewed.

The Knicks are no longer being treated as an entertaining outsider capable of upsetting better teams. They have moved into a different category: the standard everyone in the East must beat.

The championship skepticism begins only when the conversation shifts toward Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

That might ultimately suit this Knicks team perfectly.

New York spent much of last season playing without the universal respect normally afforded to a future champion. Even entering the Finals, San Antonio was widely viewed as the more talented team.

The result was a five-game Knicks championship.

Now the same dynamic is beginning again.

The Thunder possess extraordinary talent. Wembanyama and the Spurs may be even better after experiencing the Finals. Philadelphia has dramatically strengthened the East.

None of those statements diminish what New York has.

Brunson remains one of basketball’s premier postseason creators. Towns gives the Knicks elite offensive versatility. Anunoby and Bridges provide two-way wings. Hart continues to supply the rebounding and connective play that championship teams need. Brown already knows how to manage the group through an 82-game season without exhausting it before April.

ESPN may ultimately be correct that Oklahoma City or San Antonio wins the 2027 championship.

But the forecast also creates the perfect challenge for the Knicks.

The reigning champions are being picked to return to the Finals — and then lose once they get there.

For a team that just spent an entire postseason turning skepticism into fuel, New York could hardly ask for a more familiar position.