The Knicks’ path to the NBA title involved contributions from everyone on the roster — even if they did not play a single postseason minute.
Head coach Mike Brown revealed that forward Dillon Jones, who appeared in just seven regular season games for the Knicks, played a key role in the team’s playoff preparation.
“Throughout the course of this run, I got help with the messaging from different people,” Brown said to Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart during a new episode of the “Roommates Show” released on Tuesday.
“I’m gonna tell you guys, you may know this or may not, Dillon [Jones] was fabulous.”
Most fans didn’t even know Jones was part of the organization until an ill-conceived banner outside City Hall that bore his name and Patrick Ewing’s sacred No. 33, sparking some unexpected parade-day outrage.
The 24-year-old played a total of 39 minutes for New York, but it was his experience before joining the Knicks that proved invaluable.
As a rookie, the 26th overall pick spent the 2024-25 campaign with the Thunder, who defeated the Pacers in seven games to win the NBA Finals.
The Weber State product appeared in 54 regular season games and saw some sporadic action in the postseason as Oklahoma City sought to avenge a second-round postseason exit a year prior.
“I spoke to Dillon often during this playoff run because he had just gone through it with Oklahoma City,” Brown added. “I said, ‘Hey, when you guys were in this position, what was [head coach] Mark [Daigneault] saying? What was [general manager] Sam Presit saying? What were you guys saying to each other? What do you think here?”
In his first season as Knicks head coach, Brown preached collaboration and communication, a philosophy that led to 13 straight postseason wins and the organization’s first title in 53 years.
One of Jones’ most prudent suggestions, according to Brown, was to have the Knicks relive their own postseason disappointment shortcomings.
Before the Knicks opened the Eastern Conference finals against the Cavaliers, Brown had the team’s video department produce a short film focusing on players’ reactions a year prior, when New York fell in six games to the Pacers.
“Mike Brown said that he showed the film and asked the guys, ‘How did you feel in that moment,” ESPN’s Lisa Salters said during a Game 4 report. “Just to remind them of what it felt like to come up short.”
Brown revealed that he was not the mastermind of that motivation tactic.
“That was [Jones’] idea,” Brown said. “He wanted to show still shots of you because [OKC] did something similar to that because they had lost the year before. We took it to another level, we put together a video just to remind everybody that this is what it felt like.”
As the Knicks enter free agency, the club has already agreed to deals to bring back key contributors Landry Shamet and Mohamed Diawara.
A reunion with Mitchell Robinson appears unlikely as the Knicks look to stay below the second apron.
It’s unclear what type of role, if any, Jones would have next season, but the Knicks could do worse than a player with two NBA championships in his first two seasons.
