The New York Knicks added two banners to the rafters after winning the 2026 NBA Championship, surprising many fans with a major reversal.
The Knicks celebrated a successful 2026 season by hanging up a banner to immortalise the famous NBA championship win for a city which waited feverishly for a title for the last 53 years.
With the Knicks’ goals being clear in terms of only recognising major achievements by raising a banner, the franchise surprised many fans with an already-raised banner before the start of the banner ceremony for their 2026 title.
The Knicks add NBA Cup banner to the rafters before raising NBA Championship banner
Fans and reporters who went to the Knicks’ 2026-27 season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers could see that the Knicks had raised a banner to commemorate their NBA Cup win from December 2025, something the franchise initially refused to do.
Instead of raising banners to mark their status as Eastern Conference Champions, the Knicks chose to raise an NBA Cup banner in secret before emphatically raising their championship banner in front of the adulating crowd.
That is two new banners, with reports uncertain on whether the Knicks will be adding one to mark their win over the Eastern Conference in 2026, but the championship banner already makes that specific banner moot.
Past NBA Cup champions like the Los Angeles Lakers have also lifted a banner for their triumph.
Why did the Knicks refuse to raise an NBA Cup banner?
The Knicks were the first NBA Cup Champions in the short history of the tournament to not raise a banner, claiming at the time that the franchise had their eye on ‘bigger things.’
While it was dismissive of the Cup they beat the San Antonio Spurs for, the Finals wound up mirroring this matchup and the result, proving to be an excellent indicator of the two best teams in the NBA last season.
With the Knicks securing the ‘bigger things’ they were after and legitimising the Cup as a viable in-season indicator of success, it seems unlikely any other team will fight against an NBA Cup banner in the future.
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