The champion Knicks are 0-3. The last champion to start this way got swept

The New York Knicks are the reigning NBA champions. They are also 0-3, and the last champion to start a season this way did not get out of the first round.

In June 2026 the Knicks won their first title since 1973. Four months later they are still looking for their first win.

Three close losses

None of the losses was a blowout. New York fell 106-100 to the 76ers, 107-103 at Boston and 111-102 at home to the Magic, margins of 6, 4 and 9 points.

The Orlando game hurt most. The Knicks led 75-71 after three quarters. Then the Magic won the fourth quarter 40 to 27. A team that closed out a Finals run could not close out a regular-season game in its own building.

Jalen Brunson scored 28 points, but he needed 28 shots to get there and made 12. When the offence runs through one player and that player is cold, New York has not yet found a second plan.

The subplot

The last defending champion to start 0-3 was the 2011-12 Dallas Mavericks. They finished 36-30, 7th in the West, and were swept 4-0 in the first round.

That is the comparison nobody in New York wants. Brunson has said the slow start falls on his shoulders, which is what a captain should say. The harder question is whether the problem is effort, or a roster that has not found its late-game answers.

Why it is not over

Three games is a small sample. There are 79 games left of 82, more than enough time to turn this into a footnote. Close losses tend to even out over a season, and a champion's core does not forget how to win.

But the Mavericks had time too. The next few weeks will show whether the late collapses were bad luck or the start of a pattern.