The New York Knicks may have decided against hanging a banner for their NBA Cup championship, but Reggie Miller wonders if Adam Silver will force their hand.
For the first time in more than 50 years, the Knicks can call themselves champions of something after beating the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA Cup Tuesday night. And much to the pleasure of Charles Barkley, Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, Tony Kornheiser, and others who have downplayed the in-season tournament, the Knicks are celebrating the championship with tempered emotions, announcing they will refrain from hanging a banner in the rafters at Madison Square Garden.
If the Knicks follow through on their promise, it will represent a change from past champions, the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, who honor their NBA Cup titles with banners. The Lakers have 17 NBA championships, the Knicks have two. If the Lakers can find room in the rafters for an NBA Cup banner, so can the Knicks.
Miller joined The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday morning and said the Knicks absolutely should hang a banner, citing that the Lakers did. And Patrick followed up by asking whether Miller believes Silver may have asked the Lakers to raise a banner to honor their 2023 NBA Cup championship.
“100%, yes,” Miller said. “I think it came down from the top. Yes. I think commissioner Silver talked to the Buss family and said, ‘Hang this banner, because everyone else will fall in line.’ Milwaukee has done it. They won last year.”
When the Lakers won the first NBA Cup Championship in 2023, early reports stated they would not hang a banner. But they quickly changed their stance, with some people believing the Lakers and even the Bucks may have been pushed into hanging a banner by Silver, the architect of the in-season tournament. Reggie Miller is some people.
And if Silver did ask the Lakers to hang a banner, he’s right for doing so. The best way for Silver to sell the NBA Cup as a legitimate in-season tournament in its early years is by getting the teams and players to buy in. The players have. There is no doubt that they care more about the NBA Cup quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals than regular-season games in December. And teams putting a banner in the rafters is another way of proving they care about the tournament.
A banner for the NBA Cup doesn’t mean the team values it as much as an NBA Finals championship. It just means they value it. And 52 years from now, when the Knicks end their NBA Cup championship drought, they’re going to want to hang a banner. Because the NBA Cup will mean more 52 years from now than it does today in its infancy. So, just put a banner up now and let the critics get over it.