New York (and the Knicks) vs. the 1%
Credit to Yahoo Sports
One of the biggest parades and celebrations in the history of the United States just happened the other day.
Nope, not talking about July 4th, I’m talking about the Knicks. Millions of peoples were seen parading throughout the streets celebrating the end of a longtime, almost inexplicable, championship drought.
The journey of the 2025-2026 New York Knicks became a fascinating one, drawing in new fans on a month-to-month basis, with the nationwide fandom seemingly expanding tenfold once Zohran Mamdani came into the picture and became the mayor of the notorious behemoth city. With his energy, consistent focus, a spectacular social media campaign, a great political team, and a very active hive of supporters across the boroughs, the megacity seems to be experiencing a fresh new start in the 21st century.
I truly believe that the strong NBA Finals ratings were inflated because the city the Knicks represent is undergoing a cultural renaissance.
The 1990s vibes, when New York City truly felt like the city that truly represented the United States, are seemingly back. The (undeserved) reputation of the city if shifting. Nothing the conservative and doomerism media could toss against the criticism wall is sticking, as great idea after great idea is presented and supported. The budget is balanced without social services cutbacks, we’re one step closer to city-run supermarkets, we’re seeing stronger taxation towards those who historically game the system, and we might see free bus rides for all in the coming years. All this is happening under leadership that prefers fun and positivity over political bickering that we see far too often. New York City is experiencing a revival and hope for true positive change, and what it primarily took was voting in a group of politicians who behave like folks that truly love the city.
The Knicks became a part of this positive movement because they are led by a lovable, talented, determined, tenacious group of hard-nosed, hard-working players who refuse to surrender to any wild circumstance they experience. Jalen Brunson almost single-handedly transformed the aura of the Knicks into a basketball force of nature that feels very connected to the hustle culture of New Yorkers, this is a player who literally sacrificed millions of dollars to ensure the overall greater good of the team. Even if nobody on the team is usually considered a top-10 player (minus Jalen Brunson, who I’d rank somewhere in the 7-10 range), the Knicks core is vastly greater than the sum of its parts.
New York City is a bit like that, significantly stronger than the sum of its parts; even the downtown mecca Manhattan cannot truly be Manhattan without the neighboring Brooklyn and Bronx as well as nearby Queens. On the other hand, look at how disjointed Miami-Dade County is for example, in part because of each region’s insistence to go their own route and never really seek that cultural unity. Hialeah and Key Biscayne feel like they are entire countries apart, when in my opinion they should both be structurally a part of Miami. It remains a failure of humanity to exist in a world that sees a Florida without a train that connects Miami to Miami Beach.
Adding to the city’s cultural and geographical diversity, the Knicks fans are traveling better than ever before, and their energy and intensity is absolutely unmatched. Yes, we have other great fanbases in the NBA, but they just don’t carry the swagger, noise, and arrogance that comes with wearing the orange and blue. As someone who has watched the NBA since the 1990s, it has been fascinating to see the already-strong fandom seemingly grow with each passing month within a single regular season.
Look at how many Knicks fans were in San Antonio for the Finals, and the Spurs’ fanbase is no slouch either. This felt bigger than just a bandwagon craze. It’s almost infectious to root for these guys, whether it be the undersized but tough-as-nails Jalen Brunson, the swiss army knife known as Josh Hart, the big man roller coaster of emotions known as Karl Anthony Towns, etc. The audience of supporters has reached a point in which you almost forget…….there’s a second basketball team in the same damn city. Brooklyn Nets have to move back to New Jersey or Long Island after witnessing the past year.
But I mention all this because there is a villain in this wonderful tale of New York City along with the Knicks reverting back to the Sex and City/Friends/Seinfeld vibes, and that’s the Knicks’ very own owner.
James Dolan behaves like a supervillain, minus the fun, minus the smidges of relatability. This hostile nepo billionaire has had a very difficult time embracing the energy around the Knicks because it’s attached to the current political movement I had been discussing. Dolan detests Mamdani, detests the democratic socialist energy he brings, and likely is bitter that he isn’t getting the same love as the beloved mayor even as the Knicks HE OWNS marched closer towards that elusive championship. Remember, this is the same man who still won’t let Charles Oakley return to Madison Square Garden because the Knicks legend dared to criticize how the team was being run. This is also the same man who has a militaristic surveillance system in the arena that has directly targets specific people, and he’s likely constantly searching for those who visually display their disdain towards him.
It is no coincidence that it required him stepping away slightly from GM decisions that led to the Knicks finally overcoming the hump. Before, there were generations of talented players who simply didn’t want to work with Dolan, and think of all the talent that arrived and departed New York City without taking them to the Finals. Never forget how quickly Linsanity disappeared as they let go of such powerful momentum, among other baffling decisions. Dolan is a bully that likes to push others around just because he has money and because he can. This is the kind of person who likes the energy of Donald Trump, and was even willing to risk all the positive momentum of the Knicks’ playoff run, just because he can and because he wanted Trump to gain some of the glory of the Knicks’ elevated national profile.
Just like Trump, Dolan needs the attention, whether it be positive or negative.
Game 3 of the NBA Finals should and likely will be forever marked as the Donald Trump Game, the moment in which it became obvious that the Knicks were going to have to win it all under the intense pressure and circumstances IN SPITE of Dolan, not BECAUSE of Dolan. That man knew inviting Trump was going to bring an intense amount of security to an area whose population is over 70,000 per square mile, an area that also features one of the busiest train stations in the world. That man knew inviting Trump would lead to the cancellation of many events around Madison Square Garden so that Secret Service have their space in case of emergency.
All of a sudden, it felt like following the Knicks’ quest for a title was being paywalled, as the only way to even be within striking distance of MSG was to fork over thousands of dollars to be at the game. Otherwise? Find a bar or venue several blocks away, and remain there even if the temptation to head towards the Garden persisted. Suddenly, the decades of waiting for a title was also clashing with the fact that a couple billionaires can’t handle the popularity of a mayor and sought to strip away the good vibes. George Steinbrenner, as hated as he sometimes was, would have never behaved the same way.
Donald Trump was not invested in the game, at all. The man doesn’t actually care about the Knicks anymore, even with Dolan as his friend. Trump’s sporting preferences nowadays include PGA/LIV and MMA, not basketball, as his current celebrity fandom can usually be found within those sports. He didn’t actually want to be there to witness history. He wanted to stick it to the city that gave him life, then promptly rejected him when Trump’s uglier side persisted within the corners of Manhattan.
Trump and MAGA’s cruelty is the point, their insistence to remain the center of attention is all a part of a strategy to create enough doomerism and nihilism to remove you from politics entirely. Folks like Dolan do better when we collectively stop caring and just give up on the quest to demand better in a country that can afford to improve. Trump being at Game 3 was Dolan reminding New Yorkers and the fandom that he remains the owner, he remains the gatekeeper, the person who controls the team they love. This created such a bad vibe around the city and within the arena, that the Knicks choked Game 3 and allowed the young Spurs to have a window of opportunity to even up and even win the series.
Then came Game 4.
Out of sheer spite and for no other reason whatsoever, James Dolan decided to pick a fight with Mamdani and decided to cancel all events around the arena. There was no Trump this time, but the angry little Dolan didn’t like how loud the booing was, didn’t like how Mamdani seems to just rise in approval as the series rolled on, and didn’t enjoy fellow billionaire Trump being blamed for the loss. Lost in the spectacular comeback that occurred after Wu-Tang Clan’s awesome halftime performance was the evolving narrative of Dolan cancelling events, and Mamdani still delivering the goods on that very same night by making a deal to broadcast the game across several screens all over the city.
Good politics was triumphing over bitter rich people’s pettiness. Then, on the basketball side the Knicks sought solutions to their massive deficit and chipped away at the lead slowly but surely, resulted in a roller coaster ride of a win, and gaining all the momentum heading into San Antonio.
Most of the world would have moved on from James Dolan’s stupid actions and behavior especially with the Knicks clinching the championship in Game 5, but he STILL won’t stop being the worst person in the room. There’s the dumb response about the second apron not guaranteeing the return of this very roster that literally ended a half-century drought, the accusations of Mamdani not being an actual Knicks fan, denying that Trump fell asleep during the game (which he obviously did, caught in 4K), and then refusing to be in the same frame as Mamdani during the giant Knicks celebration.
If there is any slight minuscule defense of Dolan throughout his messy month, it was definitely the interesting decision by the organizers for Dolan to have to speak after Mamdani’s appearance, because we all knew that the King of New York was going to deliver a spectacular speech (and he absolutely did). However, even if Dolan had zero chance of matching that energy, instead of spending his time graciously talking about the team, he spent most of his energy throwing jabs at Mamdani, leading to awkward silence during a mostly joyful and celebratory day across the boroughs.
I mention everything that had transpired underneath the amazing New York Knicks run because once again, we cannot just forget about all the ridiculousness that was overcome by the glorious and historic end result. Similar to the absolutely disgusting bigoted campaign by the right-wing (and even centrists) to try to defeat Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral election, the ultimate victory hovers over everything that had transpired along the way.
Knicks and the City ultimately won, but it definitely wasn’t easy.
New York City booed Donald Trump mercilessly during the literal National Anthem, and collectively overcame a momentum-killing situation that nearly derailed the Knicks’ season. The anticipated chaos following these wins were nowhere near as bad as people were expecting; Paris ended up with more violence and arrests after PSG had won the Champions’ League. The city rose up and united around this Knicks team, and inspired other basketball and sporting fans to come along for the wild united ride. Instead of (deservingly) rioting against the inhumane prices to see a game at Madison Square Garden and seeing their watch party plans scrapped because a billionaire was unhappy, people took to other areas and regions of New York City to watch their team stage some of the biggest comebacks in the history of the NBA Playoffs.
The Knicks competed and won in the same way most New Yorkers compete against life, with constant energy, craftiness, creativity, and with a bit of an edge. Their collective personality is why this iteration of the Knicks feels like the best representative of the city since the 1990s. Outside of the sports, New York City throughout the 21st century has been among the biggest direct victims of terrible United States politics (with the underdeveloped regions of the country becoming the main indirect victims, but that convo is for another day).
We have to remember how New York City isn’t its own state or specialized district in the manner of a Mexico City, Buenos Aires, or Tokyo, and therefore has to share their wealth and resources in a very unequal measure. West Virginia, Arkansas, the Dakotas do not survive without NYC’s ongoing success, in spite of what the profitable news media might tell you. For this reason, I’ve actually argued for statehood for New York City and Long Island, with Upstate New York being a separate state.
During this century alone, New York City became the epicenter of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history, the multiple collapses of the U.S. economy (late 2000s, 2020), the worst pandemic to hit the United States since AIDS (a 1980s pandemic that especially hit NYC hard), actual human trafficking of immigrants showing up by the busloads courtesy of MAGA governors throughout the south, the silent trafficking of the homeless and those in need of help from other nearby regions, and always being the primary target of the conservative media and conservative administrations. And yet, the city continues thriving, continues being viewed as a world-class city by tourists and investors, continues proudly representing the idea of America, and will continue drawing the jealousy and hatred from those who don’t actually believe in a diversified America.
The Culture persists in spite of it all, from tragedy to bad politicians to greedy billionaires to the MAGA movement threatening the city’s vibes for well over a decade. Sell the team, James Dolan, you don’t deserve New York City, and you don’t actually deserve the Knicks.
This month has proven that the Culture stays winning, New York City remains standing as an ecosystem of diversified success despite all the obstacles within and beyond. And now, in spite of the team’s very own owner, the New York Knicks has become the epicenter of championship basketball. The team, its staff, the players, and the city itself, deserves a standing ovation.