The New York Knicks are still basking in the glow of their historic NBA championship, but not everyone in the Big Apple is thrilled about it.
Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai admitted in a recent interview that the Knicks' title run is "embarrassing" to his franchise and insisted that the crosstown rivals' recent success will not alter Brooklyn's rebuild "trajectory."
"Every year, some team is going to win a championship," Tsai told NetsDaily. "So it happens that this year, that team is in the same city. It doesn't make us feel very good. It irates our fan base and it is embarrassing.
"But in business or in competition -- in sports, or in anything -- you shouldn't let the embarrassment factor affect how you perform. ... [We] had a plan and we're rebuilding, and I think right now we are on a positive trajectory. So it doesn't change my thinking at all."
Tsai told NetsDaily that he remains committed to his plan of building the Nets' fanbase in a city that leans heavily toward the Knicks, who drew more than 2 million fans to their championship parade through Manhattan's "Canyon of Heroes" earlier this summer.
Peter Stern, the chief financial officer for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, told CFO Magazine that the Nets are "happy for the Knicks" and that they hope to draft off their rivals' "tailwinds" by attracting "dormant fans."
"We think about mostly just tailwinds," Stern told CFO Magazine. "We want more people loving basketball, and the Knicks' championship -- or I should say, even their deep playoff runs previously -- really activated many dormant fans.
"Fans got to engage with it and appreciate this special thing called the NBA in a different way. ... This year, there were plenty of folks around New York who maybe weren't basketball fans who ended up at a watch party or engaged in some way, shape or form with the playoffs. That's a great thing for us as the Nets and Liberty continue to grow in Brooklyn."
The Nets went 20-62 last season, finishing with the NBA's third-worst record and missing the playoffs for a third straight year. Brooklyn entered last season with the NBA's youngest roster and added three more rookies for 2026-27, including No. 6 overall draft selection Mikel Brown Jr.
The Knicks, who ended a 53-year championship drought two months ago, will play the Nets four times in 2026-27, starting with their Nov. 2 matchup at Madison Square Garden. The teams' first matchup in Brooklyn is scheduled for Feb. 1.
