New York Knicks owner Jim Dolan gave a motivational speech before the team’s championship run.
The Knicks dominated the Eastern Conference playoff bracket before beating the San Antonio Spurs to win their first championship since 1973. Just days before the playoffs began, Dolan made an impromptu appearance in the Knicks’ locker room and spoke to the team about the challenge ahead of them. Knicks teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart released a video of the speech on Monday through their podcast, “Roommates Show.”
Dolan began his speech by saying he debated speaking in the first place. He felt it was not his place to speak to the players; he said that NBA owners generally don’t know much about basketball, and that he is no different despite owning the team for more than 30 years. But he decided that it was an opportunity he should not pass up.
“I believe that this team can go all the way,” he said. “And in my 30 years of doing this, I’ve never felt closer to achieving that goal than right now. This team can win it all. And when I look back at this, after this summer, I look back at this time, I wanted to say to myself that I didn’t hold anything back... So, I’m doing it.”
Dolan stressed that the opportunity to win a championship would be life-changing and would etch them into the fabric of New York City.
“You will forever, ever be a part of New York City, no matter where you go and what you do the rest of your lives,” he said. “When people introduce you, even if you become the president of the United States, they‘ll start off with ’NBA champion, 2026.' I guarantee you that will be—even if you don’t want it, you won’t be able to avoid it. That’s what’s at stake here. And we have a rare and unique opportunity to do it.”
Dolan specifically mentioned the Knicks’ offseason overhaul. They parted ways with head coach Tom Thibodeau, who coached the Knicks to the playoffs in four of five seasons and had just led them to an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2025. He was replaced by Mike Brown, who had just been fired as head coach of the Sacramento Kings. They also added veteran swingman Jordan Clarkson and power forward Guerschon Yabusele. On draft night, they traded the draft rights to Kobe Sanders for the rights to Mohamed Diawara and Luka Mitrovic. In February, they traded Yabusele and cash for swingman Dalen Terry; the same day, they traded Terry, their second-round picks in 2026 and 2027, and cash for point guard Jose Alvarado and the rights to Latavious Williams. He stressed that those moves would serve as a barometer of the organization’s overall caliber.
“If we win a championship, we‘ll be geniuses,” he said. “If we don’t win, we get knocked out in the first round or the second round, we will not be geniuses, and we’ll be second-guessed forever ... this is not just a player thing. This is a whole team, [a] whole organization thing. We all have been through this, and we will be looking back on it 10 weeks from now, right?”
Dolan stressed the concept of sacrifice to achieve the team’s goals, and while 10 weeks is not a long time in the grand scheme of things, he said the players would have to give everything they had for that time. He said the team needed to eliminate distractions: instead of talking to the press, players should bring whatever conflicts they have directly to one another. He told them to keep on top of their practice, their diet, and their sleep. He said the players should even go home and tell their families and significant others about the sacrifices they intend to make. However, he did tell them that if the Knicks win a ring, he would buy rings for their significant others in recognition of their contribution.
He also stressed that the team needed to listen to Brown’s coaching, “almost blindly.” He told them to address their three biggest weak points: first-quarter focus, defending pick-and-rolls, and rebounding.
But in closing, he reaffirmed his belief in the team.
“I believe in you guys,” he said. “I believe in this whole group. This is not just a player thing. This is an entire organization thing. We’ve been working at this for years to get ourselves to this point, and now, 10 weeks. Can you do it? Can you focus for 10 weeks? If you do that, at the end of 10 weeks, we’re walking out of here with rings, right? And we’re walking out of here with a moniker on ourselves that will never ever go away. Me, too. Do it. Commit to it. Go for it. Let’s go.”
