New York Knicks owner James Dolan personally implored his team to lock in for an opportunity to win “a moniker on ourselves that will never, ever f—ing go away.” Ten weeks later, they did just that, becoming NBA champions for the first time in 53 years.
A video of Dolan’s April 3 speech emerged on social media Monday via the “Roommates Show” X account. The podcast is hosted by Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, key members of the drought-breaking squad that sent the nation’s largest city into hysteria. It didn’t note who filmed the scene, but both Brunson and head coach Mike Brown appeared in it, nodding along.
In the video, Dolan told the Knicks that he felt the Larry O’Brien Trophy was within reach, saying he believed they could go all the way.
“In my 30 years of doing this, I’ve never felt close to achieving that goal,” said Dolan, whose father purchased the Knicks and Madison Square Garden in 1994. “Right now, I don’t know if you understand what it would mean for you to win a championship this year — to win the NBA championship. It will be life-changing for all of you. It will stick with you for the rest of your lives. And if you don’t win, you’ll be thinking about it the rest of your lives.”
Dolan made his comments amid a hot streak the team hadn’t seen in a decade. In early April, the Knicks’ 53 regular-season wins were their most since the 2012-13 season, when they logged 54. They were about to make their fourth consecutive playoff run, a milestone unseen since a team-record 14-year run ended in 2001.
“Why I’m here is because we have 10 weeks. Ten weeks of your life to achieve something that will stay with you the rest of your life and the rest of my life. But you’re going to have to give it your all,” Dolan said. “You’re going to have to get more now than you’ve ever, ever before. For this team and to your careers. And the big word is sacrifice. You’re going to have to sacrifice if you want to achieve this.
“I believe you can do it. I’ve seen you do it this season, and you’ve seen yourself do it. You know you could do it. I believe you know you can do it. But will you do it for the next 10 weeks?”
Watch the full speech here https://t.co/PZn49t0gaU
— Roommates Show (@Roommates__Show) June 15, 2026
Those 10 weeks would become immortal franchise lore.
To open the playoffs, the Knicks won 13 straight games after trailing the Atlanta Hawks 2-1 in the first round, good for the second-longest win streak in NBA playoff history. They capped it with the largest single-game comeback in NBA Finals history, overcoming a 29-point deficit to steal Game 4 from the San Antonio Spurs.
Individually, Karl-Anthony Towns set the postseason record for a player’s plus-minus in a single postseason run (plus-258). Brunson (plus-234) finished third on that list behind Stephen Curry in 2017. Brunson’s 45 points in Game 5 also tied Michael Jordan for the most in a road closeout game in NBA Finals history.
Dolan finished his speech with a promise to recognize the contributions players’ families made while supporting their collective mission.
“When we win the championship, right, we will get rings. And when we get rings, so will they. I will get it. I will buy a ring for each one of your significant others, because their contribution is going to be very important to this team,” he said. “This is not just a player thing. This is an entire organization thing. We’ve been working at this for years to get ourselves to this point. And now 10 weeks. Can you do it? Can you focus for 10 weeks? If you do that, at the end of that week, we’re walking out of here with rings.”
Among the sacrifices Dolan highlighted, alongside extra practice time and getting enough sleep, was his recommendation that the players avoid having sex in the run-up to the playoffs. Snickers ensued.
“I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks. You don’t have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks, but — like the Spartans, you know what Spartans are? They denied themselves, right? So that they can have an edge. Get the edge,” Dolan said.
“Go home. Talk to your wives and tell them — don’t tell them you’re not gonna have sex, don’t tell ‘em it was my idea — but let them know what this is gonna be like, what your commitment is gonna be like, and how they’re gonna have to sacrifice, too.”
The Knicks’ ticker-tape parade is scheduled for Thursday and will set out from Battery Park at 10:00 a.m. ET. It will follow the “Canyon of Heroes” route from the park to New York City Hall, which has hosted celebratory processions ranging from the Statue of Liberty’s 1886 dedication to the New York Liberty’s 2024 WNBA Championship parade.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement that he will present players with keys to the city at the end of the route, and he teased that the event could end up as the largest parade in the city’s history.
“You will forever, ever, be important to New York City,” Dolan said that day in April. “No matter where you go and what you do the rest of your lives, when people introduce you, even if you become the president of the United States, they’ll start off with ‘NBA champion, 2026.’ That’s what’s at stake here.”
Regardless of whether it reaches that bar, it’s guaranteed to be the largest parade in Knicks history. In fact, it will be the first: The 1970 and 1973 championship teams never had parades at all, as then-mayor John Lindsay opted to honor them with more private ceremonies. Now welcome to their heroes’ party, New York’s Knicks faithful should be ready.
