Knicks' Tyler Kolek on defense of NBA title: 'We're not satisfied'
Knicks guard Tyler Kolek greets children at the youth basketball clinic at the FlexWork Sports Complex in Massapequa on Sunday, where he greeted and played with kids in attendance. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone
The collective mindset, Tyler Kolek emphasized, has not changed.
Not after one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history. Not after a stretch of 16 wins in 19 games over 56 days that culminated with the Knicks’ first championship in 53 years.
Why fix something that is not broken? Why tinker with an approach that has proved to work?
“That’s what won us the championship, being the hunters,” Kolek told Newsday in a quiet moment Sunday morning. “So why change that? Why change that mindset now? We just want to keep going with that.”
It is a logical argument for several reasons, not the least of which is that although the Knicks are viewed as a championship contender, they might not be the odds-on favorite to win it all.
Western Conference powerhouses Oklahoma City and San Antonio remain intact and Eastern Conference rivals Philadelphia (Jaylen Brown and LeBron James), Miami (Giannis Antetokounmpo) and Cleveland (Peyton Watson) all made significant upgrades to their rosters. Then there is Indiana, which should have a fully healthy Tyrese Haliburton, who missed the entire 2025-26 season while recuperating from an Achilles tear.
All of which is why Josh Hart told Chris Fowler and John McEnroe during ESPN’s U.S. Open broadcast Thursday that he thinks the Knicks “don’t [have] a big target because I don’t think people are picking us to win again. So we’re using that as fuel. We’re still the hunters. We’re not satisfied with one. The next goal is to get another. So we’re the hunters, and we like playing that game.”
Kolek echoed Hart’s comments.
“The odds for the championship, whatever the experts say, we may not be the ones that everybody’s picking. I think that’s what he was alluding to in terms of being the hunters,” he said.
Kolek was quick to point out that the external outlook for the Knicks is not one they share.
“Obviously, coming off a championship, there’s high expectations and we’re not satisfied,” he said. “We want to come into this year with a chip on our shoulder even though we are the champions because guys are going to be coming after us. But you know, every time people step in that Garden, they want to play well. So we’ll always be ready.”
Kolek was at Fieldhouse Sports Complex in Massapequa for his youth basketball camp for kids ages 6-16. He took photos with the campers and played one-on-one and one-on-two with them.
“I get to come out and get better with all the people that supported us throughout our championship run,” said Kolek, who partnered with FlexWork Sports for the camp. “These people, they support us. They come to the games, and just for me to be able to come out here and support them in their basketball journey is something so special.”
