Knicks Making Finals is Cherry on Top of NBA’s Successful Season

The NBA’s record-setting TV viewership in season one of its new streaming-heavy rights deal was the sort of thing any league would dream of.

Despite the potential concerns around accessibility, the league still rode its top-level parity to impressive audience numbers across both streaming and traditional TV.

ESPN, NBC and Amazon all came off positively as the NBA appears to be turning the page to a new collection of stars. And perhaps most helpful for the league’s long-term health: All of this happened with three of the top four seeds across the East and West being perceptively “smaller” markets (Oklahoma City, Detroit, San Antonio) — albeit ones buoyed by established stars like OKC’s Shai-Gilgeous Alexander or burgeoning ones including the Pistons’ Cade Cunningham and the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama. But by all accounts, this was not a big-market-focused Lakers/Celtics/Knicks/Bulls season.

That is, until it was.

In dispatching its opponents by historically impressive margins, the New York Knicks have secured the franchise’s first NBA Finals trip in 27 years. And with that comes the collective curiosity of not just the country’s largest media market, but the nation as a whole.

The Knicks, after all, haven’t won a championship since 1973. The team’s fans are long-suffering and potentially (lovingly) feral. And given how New York has won many of its games going away in these playoffs, there are numerous compelling stories here to hook unaffiliated casual viewers. Even if the main pitch is potentially just so people can see Knicks fans lose their minds one way or another.

In short, a TV ratings bounceback is virtually secured already after 2025’s small-market showdown between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers was reported as the least-watched Finals since 2007.

And it’s not like their Western Conference counterparts will be any slouches either.

The Knicks await either the defending champs OKC, complete with a villain arc via its two-time MVP leader. Or the 7-foot-4 soon-to-be face of the league in Wemby before he’s fully formed as an unstoppable force.

While not impossible, it’s harder for some of those narratives to land when facing Cleveland. Against the Knicks — and especially these Knicks? Those teams are the perfect foil for what’s been (even to outsiders) a pretty likeable and hard-working Knicks group.

Coming off the team’s NBA Cup win in December, too, it also provides a semblance of validation for the league’s current competitive construction: The season is long, but ultimately, those fires forge fitting matchups between the league’s best teams.

If New York can actually hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy, they’ll complete the NBA’s first “double” (NBA Cup, NBA Finals), and give the league an even better pitch for that event. Those Cup games become a bigger showcase to give teams and fans a glimpse at future title-winning chemistry.

Should the Knicks lose in the Finals, it’s still a win for the league, too. In this case, the counterpoint is the crowning of a new dynasty (Thunder) or the ascension of Wemby to the top of the NBA. And either way, the ratings and ad dollars will be there, thanks to the Knicks’ presence that puts more eyeballs on that moment, too.

At the same time, though, a Knicks win could also be something that not only spells success now for the league, but also gives it the sort of “storybook” finale it typically lacks.

Plus, as the NBA stares down a league future that could be very Thunder/Spurs-heavy given the teams’ current constructions and bevvy of draft capital, a Knicks win is one more opportunity to sell audiences on the unexpected before it potentially gives way to the very expected over the coming decade.

Sounds like a perfect recipe if you ask me.