NBA: Dolan Targets the Finals with the Knicks

James Dolan breaks his silence and sets ambitious goals for the Knicks

Some voices, after years of silence, still send a shiver through Manhattan. Dolan’s is one of them. The Knicks owner, 70, with a reputation forged in his franchise’s perpetual tremors, decided to speak. Not a rushed press release. Not a soft, staged conference. No. An unfiltered sit-down with the New York Post, via Stefan Bondy. And make no mistake: Dolan wasn’t there to smooth the edges.

A clear, declared goal — almost thrown down as a challenge

“We want to reach the NBA Finals. And we should win them.” Owners aim high all the time. Some just parade. This is Dolan, though, and the tone snaps like a transition dunk. No pretence. No “we’ll see.” Pure, frontal ambition.

Knicks owner James Dolan says the Knicks won’t raise the NBA Cup banner because they plan to raise a championship banner instead.

“We are going to raise the banner. We’re going to raise the NBA championship banner. That’s what we’re going to raise.”

(Via @SbondyNBA ) pic.twitter.com/BSigbx6Ikc

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) January 5, 2026

New York comes off a season that shoved them back into the spotlight, their first Conference Final in a quarter-century. An eternity for a city that breathes basketball. But that renaissance was followed by a jolt: Tom Thibodeau walked away. A punch to a fanbase that saw him as the architect of the new era. Dolan isn’t black-and-white about it.

Respect for Thibodeau, but a sense they’d hit a ceiling

He pays tribute to the coach: “The team is really built on Tom Thibodeau’s shoulders. He built this core.” You can’t get more direct. But behind the warm words there’s a blade. Dolan says the Knicks needed to evolve — get out of a too-rigid approach, stop relying so heavily on starters, catch up with a modern culture where internal development and depth are real weapons.
He says he had long talks with Leon Rose and with Thibodeau about investing more in young players’ progress and in bench cohesion. Apparently the visions stopped fitting. “It really wasn’t his thing.”
Still, Dolan insists: Thibs should coach again. He’s not about to forget the man who gave the franchise back a believable pulse.

A team confident despite the shocks

When Dolan spoke, the Knicks had just slid through a bad run — four straight losses, including a drubbing in Detroit. Not enough to freak out the owner. He praises the group’s chemistry and disputes an ESPN report linking them to a Bucks superstar trade. “We like our team. I’ve never seen a locker room that harmonious.”
That might be the most surprising line from the league’s most criticized owner. Dolan talking harmony, stability, continuity. Yes, you read that right.
For him, no point blowing the whole thing up. The aim is clear: consolidate, tighten the foundations, let the chemistry do its work. “This group can win a championship. I believe it.”

Hart and Shamet returns as catalysts

Optimism also comes from the near-term outlook. Josh Hart is coming back soon. Landry Shamet too. Two guys who can add energy, spacing and the grit the team badly lacks in dry spells. Dolan doesn’t paint them as saviours. He calls them the missing pieces in a puzzle that’s not finished.
And he quietly reminds everyone: last year New York pushed through the playoffs with a shorthanded, limited, sometimes depleted roster. This season, if health holds, the second half could look very different.

New York, still New York, always New York

Dolan spoke. And when he speaks, the NBA world listens. Not because his comments are always brilliant. Because they set the tempo — sometimes nuts, sometimes intoxicating — of the country’s most watched franchise.

The Knicks want the Finals. The Knicks want to win them. It’s ambitious, it’s risky, maybe premature. But this is New York. Thinking small has never been part of the language here.