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"They're the best team" - Kendrick Perkins picks his pre-season favorite for the Eastern Conference
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- "They're the best team" - Kendrick Perkins picks his pre-season favorite for the Eastern Conference
The New York Knicks had their deepest playoff run since 2000 and were two wins short of going to the NBA Finals last season, losing to the Indiana Pacers 4-2 in the 2025 Eastern Conference finals.
However, with Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton sitting out the entire 2025-26 campaign after suffering an Achilles injury in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, ESPN's Kendrick Perkins says the Knicks have emerged as the team to beat in the East next season.
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"To me, they are the best team in the Eastern Conference," declared Perkins. "We know that the Celtics are somewhat in rebuild mode. The Cavs, I don't trust them. I trust 'Big Body Brunson ' as the leader of that ball club. And they've addressed the issues that they needed to address. You go and you get some bench players that's going to come in and play their role and still keeping your entire core together."
The Knicks added two key players to their bench
New York had its second straight 50-win season in 2024-25, winning 51 regular-season games and finishing as the third seed in the Eastern Conference.
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After beating the upstart Detroit Pistons in the opening round of the 2025 NBA playoffs, the Knicks went on to dethrone the defending champions, the Boston Celtics , in the second round.
However, against a deep and talented Pacers team in the ECF, they came up short, causing the firing of head coach Tom Thibodeau.
This summer, the Knicks added guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Guerschon Yabusele to bolster their lineup. Clarkson averaged 16.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game for the Utah Jazz last season, while Yabusele made the most out of his second opportunity in the NBA by putting up 11.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game for the Philadelphia 76ers .
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"We know OG Anunoby, we know what he's going to bring to the table, for as being that 3-and-D guy at times, he looked like Scottie Pippen. Josh Hart he's going to come back on a mission. Obviously, they just re-signed Mikal Bridges and I'm looking forward to see what Karl-Anthony Towns looks like under a new voice in the locker room in Mike Brown. I think we're gonna see the best version of him," he continued.
The Cavs are favored to win the East next season
Looking at the preseason betting boards, the Cleveland Cavaliers are the current betting favorites to win the Eastern Conference next season. The Cavs won 64 games last season and had the best record in the Eastern Conference, but as Perkins said, he believes in Brunson more than he does the Cavs and he thinks their additions are good enough to put them over the top.
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"If you ask me, I'm all-in on the Knicks in the Eastern Conference, no slight to everybody else," added Perk. "I just feel that they check all the boxes, and I think they're the best Eastern Conference team right now, on paper."
Despite undergoing a coaching change, oddsmakers are still high on the Knicks next season because of the injuries to Haliburton and Tatum .
Big Perk agrees.
However, he makes a good point at the end of his statement - that what he's predicting is based on paper only, because it's one thing to have the right players, it's another to get them playing on the same page and winning games.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
