Paul Pierce says Knicks won't win an NBA championship 'in my lifetime'

NEW YORK — Hall of Famer and 2008 Boston Celtics champion Paul Pierce has little faith in the new-look Knicks’ championship prospects, going so far as to say that he doesn’t expect the franchise to win an NBA title during his lifetime.

On a recent episode of his podcast with fellow Hall of Famer and former teammate Kevin Garnett, Pierce was asked which team, between the Knicks and the WNBA’s Liberty, would be the next to bring a basketball championship to New York City.

“I don’t believe the Knicks will win a championship in my lifetime,” Pierce said without hesitation on Friday’s episode of “Ticket & The Truth” podcast. “So it’s gotta be the Liberty.

“I don’t think in my lifetime. They will [win one eventually], but I won’t be around to see it. I mean, we been around to see them go to the Finals one time, and it was a lockout year.”

Pierce said the competition in the Eastern Conference is too steep to simply write the Knicks into an Eastern Conference finals appearance, even though they upgraded the roster by trading for Mikal Bridges, a close friend and former teammate of the Knicks’ Villanova core of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo.

The Knicks are also expected to have a healthy Julius Randle toward the start of the season after his 2023-24 campaign ended in late January due to a dislocated right shoulder.

“This should be their best team that they’ve assembled since [Patrick] Ewing and [Latrell] Sprewell and [Allan] Houston, but they’re in the middle of the Celtics right now … They’re young,” said Pierce. “It’s three teams in the East where if you match the Knicks up with them, the Knicks won’t have the best player on the floor. Usually the best players win.”

The Knicks are coming off their most successful season in a decade, winning 50 games and finishing with the East’s No. 2 seed despite battling significant injuries for the majority of the season.

With Randle back, OG Anunoby healthy, and Bridges in the fold, the Knicks are expected to improve on their last two seasons, which have each finished with second-round playoff exits.

The Knicks, however, watched Isaiah Hartenstein leave for the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency, a loss that compounded with Mitchell Robinson’s recent injury timeline update of December-January.

“This is the Knicks’ best team, but it ain’t sweet in the East,” Pierce said. “Orlando got better. [The Knicks] made some moves and got Randle back, but I’m not sure if the moves they made put ‘em just head and shoulders as conference finals with the C’s because when I look at Philly: [they] added Paul George, and [Tyrese] Maxey getting better and hopefully [Joel] Embiid healthy.

“And then I look at Orlando who got better getting [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope] and they got a young superstar [Paolo Banchero] over there. And then I look at Indiana, and they didn’t have their one guard [Bennedict] Mathurin, who’s a key contributor. And then hopefully Milwaukee, if Giannis [Antetokounmpo] is healthy and [Miami’s] Jimmy Butler is healthy, they all in the same boat.

“All them teams to me in the same boat. Cleveland, [too].”

Garnett disagreed with Pierce’s premise that the team with the best player on the floor will automatically win a playoff series.

He cited the Miami Heat, who made a trip to the NBA Finals in 2023 despite finishing the regular season with the East’s No. 8 seed. Antetokounmpo also missed the Bucks’ entire first-round playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, who then defeated the Knicks in Game 7 of the second round to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals.

“You know what Miami taught me? Health is everything, because Jimmy Butler on the floor made a difference and Jimmy Butler hurt made a difference,” Garnett said. “And just like when Giannis hurt his back, that made a difference. You know how it goes. You need a little bit of everybody being healthy and you need a little bit of luck and coincidence.”

Garnett believes the Knicks will be much better than Pierce suggested. He also believes their title window is open now, though it won’t be a cake-walk to through the East.

“With saying that, Brunson can beat you. He can beat you in the fourth quarter. He can hit big shots. Man they got four [friends] that played together on the collegiate level. That’s gotta be great for something,” the Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves legend said. “And don’t get this f----- up, I’m not even high on the Knicks. I’m just sitting back watching: ‘Oh s---, you got the best player from Brooklyn here now with these pieces that he already knows and they’ve already developed? And then you’re gonna have Randle at the five? That’s gonna [mess] y’all up with rebounding but pace-wise? Y’all built like the Pacers low-key, I see what y’all doing. So I see what I’m looking at, or what I think I’m looking at.

“Thibs looks like he’s doing a four-out, one-in and all four on the perimeter can take you or can play-make and can hit and hit you in the [expletive deleted] head. And now, Julius Randle has some great hands and can finish.

“Now when he faces Embiid, when he faces Wemby [San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama], when he faces [Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola] Jokic, some of your bigger centers, you’re gonna give something up on that. But for the most part, in the East, running with a West Coast version. I see what they doing.”