Damned if you do, damned if you don’t is the situation Mike Breen sees the New York Knicks in after they won the 2025 NBA Cup.
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 championship. Despite the title, the Knicks don’t intend to honor it with a banner inside Madison Square Garden. The decision has been met with considerable debate, with some believing the Knicks should join the Bucks and Lakers in raising a banner, while many who continue to mock the in-season tournament believe celebrating it with a banner would be some sort of disgrace.
Mike Breen on the NBA Cup banner.
“The Lakers, they won the first one. They hung the banner, the Bucks did as well. And they relieved some ridicule for hanging the banner.
Now the Knicks decided not to hang it and they’re receiving criticism…people just like to be outraged.” pic.twitter.com/z5qyq5EUpk
— KNICKS BEAST (@KnicksBeast) December 19, 2025
“As for the banner – to hang it or not to hang it – the Lakers, they won the first one. They hung the banner, the Bucks did as well,” Breen said during the Knicks’ 114-113 win over the Indiana Pacers Thursday night. “And they received some ridicule for hanging the banner. Now the Knicks decided not to hang it, and they’re receiving criticism. You can’t win whether you hang it or you don’t hang it. People just like to be outraged.”
When the Lakers won the first NBA Cup Championship two years ago, reports initially stated they would not hang a banner. They already have 17 NBA championship banners; they didn’t really need one more to commemorate the inaugural in-season tournament. But they quickly pivoted and opted for a banner, with many believing it came as a directive from commissioner Adam Silver.
The Bucks then followed suit and raised a banner last season, but the Knicks are now attempting to break the trend. That is, unless Silver steps in and encourages the Knicks to raise a banner, as many believe he did with the Lakers.
And the Knicks should hang a banner. Hanging 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.
But Breen is right. People like his friend and former WFAN colleague Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo love to be outraged. And if the Knicks do ultimately hang a banner for the 2025 NBA Cup, expect Dog to be at the front of the line yelling and screaming about how much of a disgrace it is to honor winning an in-season tournament in any form.