Miscellaneous

Knicks raise first championship banner in 53 years

Opening-night T-shirts printed with next season's date, LeBron James greeted with we-don't-want-you chants at the arena he once envisioned finishing his career in

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Karl-Anthony Towns celebrates with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy after winning the NBA Finals. Karl-Anthony Towns celebrates with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy after winning the NBA Finals. foxnews.com
New York Knicks Champions Night t-shirts displayed before a game at Madison Square Garden. New York Knicks Champions Night t-shirts displayed before a game at Madison Square Garden. foxnews.com
New York Knicks celebrate with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy New York Knicks celebrate with the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy foxnews.com
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newsweek.com
LeBron James #23 of the Philadelphia 76ers. LeBron James #23 of the Philadelphia 76ers. newsweek.com

The New York Knicks raised their first championship banner in 53 years at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, then handed the roughly 20,000 fans in the building giveaway T-shirts printed with the wrong season. The shirts, draped across every seat ahead of the ring ceremony, read "2026-27 Champions Night" — the season beginning that evening — rather than honouring the 2025-26 championship the night existed to celebrate.

The Knicks beat San Antonio in Game 5 of the Finals on 13 June for the franchise's third title and its first since 1973, with Karl-Anthony Towns celebrating with the trophy in Texas and Jalen Brunson named Finals MVP. On Tuesday the team posted photos of the misprint on its own social media accounts rather than quietly paying for reprints, and was duly mocked online. An NBA Cup banner went into the rafters as well.

The opponent supplied the subtext. LeBron James joined the Philadelphia 76ers over the summer, having said at media day that he had envisioned finishing his career at the Garden, a building he called one of the best places he has ever played. Knicks fans met him at the free-throw line with chants of "We don't want you!", SNY's Ian Begley reported, and broke into profane chants aimed at Joel Embiid. James had already conceded that signing with the Knicks after their title would have gone down badly: "Y'all wouldn't have let me lay that down, at all." Carmelo Anthony says James and the 76ers can be a problem for everyone, the reigning champions included.

The banner was 53 years in the making. The shirts were one season off.