Carmelo Anthony makes bold Knicks prediction: ‘Just dropped the microphone’

This will be the year the Knicks break through and reach the NBA Finals, according to one former star turned analyst. 

Carmelo Anthony made that prediction Monday during an NBA season preview event in Stamford, Conn., at NBC Sports headquarters to promote the network’s return to carrying the league’s games. 

“The Knicks will be the No. 1 seed in the East. I want to talk about why I believe that,” Anthony, the former Knicks standout who has joined NBC as a studio analyst, said. “They’ve been primed for this position for the past three, four years. They have everything that you could possibly need [for] a winning formula.”

The Knicks are considered the co-favorites in the Eastern Conference, along with the Cavaliers, partly due to the Pacers and Celtics expected to be without respective stars Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum for the coming season.

The Knicks beefed up their bench in the offseason, adding Jordan Clarkson, Guerschon Yabusele and Malcolm Brogdon, while keeping their entire core intact. The biggest question just might be the coach, after the Knicks replaced Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown. 

“They have the players. Have the point guard,” Anthony said as part of a panel discussion with fellow NBA analysts and former stars Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter. “We have the best big man shooter possibly in the history of basketball. … We have Jalen Brunson out there, who’s running the point. I think this year with Mike Brown, putting Jalen Brunson off of the ball, allowing him to play off the ball, alongside with Jordan Clarkson coming in the game, Malcolm Brogdon, who gives us a shot in the arm off the bench. We have Mike Brown, who’s a coach bringing a different energy. I watch them in the preseason. I see the fast pace that they [are] playing with. I see the system that they [are] playing with. I just [think] the Knicks would be the No. 1 seed, and I’ve just dropped the microphone.”

Carmelo Anthony poses for a photo during the 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony on September 6, 2025 NBAE via Getty Images

Led by Brunson, the Knicks reached the Eastern Conference finals last spring for the first time since 2000, although they fell to the Pacers in six games.

In his first three years in the orange and blue, Brunson has emerged as one of the premier guards in the league. This year, he may be asked to play without the ball more in Brown’s uptempo style. 

“The only question mark I have for the Knicks. I think they are going to be very good. But the only question mark I have is Jalen Brunson has been on the ball all the time,” McGrady, who picked the Cavaliers as his team to beat the Eastern Conference, said. “Mike Brown comes from a pedigree of ball movement, player movement. So it’s going to be interesting when they implement this new offensive system to see if he’s on the ball or off the ball, and how he reacts to that.”

Knicks’ Jalen Brunson drives against the Philadelphia 76ers’ Hunter Sallis. REUTERS

Anthony responded: “He’s going to be off the ball until he needs to be on the ball.”

Anthony and McGrady agreed that if it doesn’t work early, Brown will face intense scrutiny.

The expectations are incredibly high for the Knicks, and one of their most famous former players expects them to play into June.