NBA Cup Preview: Can the Knicks pass their first title defense?

Every time the Knicks take the floor in the 2026-27 season, they will do so as the hunted. They won just about every prize you could win last season, meaning they’ll never get a game without a bit of edge from an opponent.

Things won’t truly get real until the postseason for the real title defense, but the Knicks did hang a second banner to hang forever at the World’s Most Famous Arena.

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That’s right. It’s time for the NBA Cup.

Last year, as an appetizer for June’s dramatics, the Knicks went 3-1 in group play, ultimately winning East Group C via head-to-head tiebreaker. They then took down the Raptors in Toronto, the Magic in Vegas, and came back from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to take home the NBA Cup after consecutive years of losing in the quarterfinals.

This year, they’ll face by far their hardest path to getting out of group play for the fourth consecutive year. Adam Silver has stacked the deck with a ridiculously competitive Group B that will be a war to get through. Even the wild card, which the Knicks have used to advance in the past, will be tough with likely few opportunities to run up the point differential.

Still, the Knicks are champs until they aren’t, even in a midseason tournament. Let’s meet the contenders:

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East Group B

Philadelphia 76ers (10/30, 7:30, Prime Video)

Tonight’s Cup opener in the City of Brotherly Love will be the Knicks’ second crack at the makeshift superteam that bested them on Opening Night in a back-and-forth affair.

The Sixers are one of those teams that I question how seriously they’re going to take the NBA Cup. Sure, there are some big measuring-stick games in this group, but with a lineup that they will be heavily load-managing throughout the season, one wonders if they’re going to take a condensed calendar that will require additional travel and even an extra game at the end of it. We saw how it burned out the Knicks last year.

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To start the year, Philly is 4-1 with a very strange combination of a mediocre offense and… the best defense in basketball? What sense does that make? They’ve been healthy, only missing Joel Embiid and LeBron…

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Publish date : 2026-10-30 12:30:00

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