The Knicks will enter the 2025/26 season as a favorite to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals, but the team will invariably deal with a variety of challenges throughout the year, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post details (subscriber link).
Staying healthy will be crucial for New York.
All-Defensive forward OG Anunoby has dealt with his fair share of health issues within the past few seasons, as has All-NBA center Karl-Anthony Towns. Practically everyone got hurt during the club’s 2024 playoff run, before Towns was on the roster. The Knicks have added some veteran depth this summer to hopefully serve as insurance for potential injuries during the season.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- In a poll of colleagues, NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg takes a look at how the Celtics could potentially surprise people’s reduced expectations following an offseason of change. Boston traded away former starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, let backup center Luke Kornet walk in free agency, and appears ready to do the same for Al Horford. The team is in something of a holding pattern as it awaits the return of All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum from an Achilles tear, which may not happen until 2026/27.
- Celtics center Neemias Queta, the team’s fourth-string option at the position last year, will compete for rotational minutes with new signings Luka Garza and Chris Boucher. The seven-footer, who underwent surgery to address a lingering knee issue, is hoping for a career-best showing in 2025/26, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops. “I got rested enough this offseason and I think that I put myself in the best position to have a breakout season,” Queta said. “I have the tools to compete with the best.”
- Second-year Sixers big man Adem Bona is competing for his adopted homeland of Turkey in this year’s EuroBasket tournament. He moved there from Nigeria when he was 13. The 6’9″ pro spoke on Saturday about how his hoops journey began around that time, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. “I only played for a year before I left home to move to Turkey,” Bona said. “My first basketball shoes were given to me by a friend… Basketball was just something I really liked because of the pace and the tempo. So it kind of drove me to the game when I started playing for the first time. It was really amazing.”