Sports
The Defending Champion Knicks Must Navigate a Delicate Offseason
Next season waits for no one, not even a team that’s waited 53 years to once again call itself a world champion.
Thus, even before the most boisterous parade in New York City history Thursday afternoon, the composition of the defending champion Knicks (it is going to take a while to get used to that three-word phrase) was called into question by none other than owner James Dolan.
“If we could bring back the whole team exactly as it is, why wouldn’t you?” Dolan said on WFAN last month. “But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to.
“We’re willing to stretch, but there’s certain things in the NBA that you have to be suicidal to do. And we’re not going to do those. One of those is called the second apron. Cannot go on to the second apron.”
On one hand, it was classic Dolan, raining on the parade before it even began and reminding us all every time he speaks publicly why he so rarely speaks publicly.
On the other, again, the calendar isn’t pausing for the Knicks even as they enjoy long-awaited and much-deserved victory laps. So Dolan may as well have said the quiet part out loud, because the reality of constructing next year’s team must be confronted at some point sooner than later.
If ever a team earned the opportunity to try and run it back, future costs be damned, it’s these Knicks, fresh off a generational championship. And they are as well-positioned as possible to become the NBA’s first repeat winner since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors.
No matter what Vegas thinks, nobody should be betting against the team that authored two of the most incredible single-game comebacks in NBA playoff history on its way to the most dominant postseason run of all-time in terms of point differential.
All five starters are under contract through next year while Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart have player and team options, respectively, for 2027-28.
Things are far less clear when it comes to keeping together the rest of the Knicks’ rotation. Two of their top three reserves — guards Jose Alvarado and Landry Shamet — were free agents who opted to return. The one rotation piece that needed to be replaced after he left in free agency was center Mitchell Robinson.
It was asking a lot to bring all three back, even if team president Leon Rose can convince Dolan to forget about the second apron. (For the record, the lack of a mid-level exemption or the ability to include cash in trades are real impediments, but let’s all have a laugh at the idea of the “**** them picks” Knicks being put off by the idea they can’t trade a 2034 first-round pick at next year’s deadline)
Robinson helped. But he’s injury-prone and a liability at the free throw line while Alvarado and Shamet combined to average 15.9 points over 39.9 minutes per game — solid numbers for sure, but even they weren’t must-have returnees.
Rose, who saw a franchise-altering superstar in Jalen Brunson when everyone else saw a run-of-the-mill former second-round draft pick, has also earned the right to find Knicks-worthy supplemental players.
Contributions from all — Robinson, Alvarado and Shamet included — during the NBA Finals embodied the sum-is-better-than-the-parts nature of the Knicks.
Alvarado had eight points in the fourth quarter of Game 4, when the Knicks completed their historic comeback from a 29-point deficit. And of the 34 points Shamet scored in the Finals, 13 came in the fourth quarter.
Rose traded back twice, from picks 24 and 31 overall, and came away with players nobody had on the team needs list. But the Knicks look ready to give Jack Kayil a shot given his summer league showing and 47th overall pick Tyler Nickel could be an extra shooter off the bench.
The Knicks have spent most of the previous 52 offseasons trying to perform facelifts upon one of the league’s most downtrodden franchises. Trying to figure out a way to replicate championship success, even if it requites a slightly different formula, is a far better task — and, as Rose is surely getting to know, far more delicate and challenging.
Sports
Rory McIlroy goes aggressive to stay in The Open hunt
Rory McIlroy is 1-under par through 36 holes at The Open Championship. Rory McIlroy was hovering around the projected cut line at The Open Championship on Friday when favorable wind conditions opened the door for a more aggressive strategy.
With the wind behind him for the second consecutive round, McIlroy took out his driver on the 414-yard par-4 ninth hole. It led to a second consecutive birdie that got the world’s No. 2-ranked player back to even par for the day.
McIlroy added a lone birdie on his back nine to card a 3-under-par 67 at Royal Birkdale on Friday that moved him to 1 under for the tournament.
“The main objective today was to be here for the weekend, which I am,” McIlroy said. “I felt like I left a couple out there.”
That was especially true after he looked at the scoreboard and saw the 62s posted by Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns. McIlroy will be chasing at least seven shots when he begins his third round on Saturday. Herbert was atop the leaderboard after the morning wave at 8-under.
McIlroy has been inconsistent on the greens through 36 holes but has remained as aggressive as possible with his driver. The ninth hole was a perfect example, as he never considered trying to drive the green during practice rounds.
“Honestly, the practice rounds I played were in a completely different wind direction. I didn’t even think about it,” McIlroy said. “Then when I got on the tee yesterday and saw the wind, it was like, well, the corner on the right there to cover is like 335 (yards), and downwind it’s like, as long as I just strike it well, that should be fine.
“I’ve driven the ball so well the last two days. I think anytime I can get a driver in my hand, I’m going to try to.”
To put himself in contention on Sunday, the Northern Irishman needs to post an excellent score early and then hope the pack comes back to him a bit. In addition to the rounds posted by Herbert and Burns, Royal Birkdale yielded a 64 to Eric Cole during Friday’s morning wave, which also saw five players post 4-under 66s.
Like McIlroy, Cameron Young shot a 3-under 67 that put him at 6 under for the tournament and two shots back of Herbert.
“There’s a couple of guys up there, this will be sort of their first experience of playing in the lead at a major championship on the weekend,” McIlroy said. “There’s obviously some that are very experienced at it like Cam and like Sam as well.
“I think if I can get off to a decent start tomorrow, be 4- or 5-under for the tournament, I’ll be right in it.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Titans to induct Chris Johnson into Ring of Honor
Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson (28) pulls away from Jacksonville Jaguars defense for a 52 yard touchdown run in the third quarter at LP Field on Nov. 1, 2009. The Titans defeated the Jaguars 30-13 for their first win of the season. The Tennessee Titans will induct former All-Pro running back Chris Johnson into the team’s Ring of Honor.
The ceremony is planned for halftime of the Titans’ 2026 season opener on Sept. 13. The Titans will host the New York Jets, for whom Johnson played one season.
The Titans selected Johnson with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. During his six-season, 95-game tenure in Nashville, Johnson gained 7,965 rushing yards and scored 58 touchdowns.
He was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-Pro in 2009, when he ran for 2,006 yards and set an NFL single-season record with his 2,509 yards from scrimmage. That record continues to stand despite the NFL expanding its schedule to 17 games.
“Chris Johnson holds a special place in the hearts of our organization and our fans,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement. “His stats speak for themselves, and he will forever remain a leader in our record books, but the man behind the yardage deserves just as much celebration. We look forward to welcoming him home on Sept. 13 and officially inducting him into the Titans Ring of Honor.”
He rushed for 9,651 yards and 55 touchdowns in 130 career games with the Titans (2008-13), Jets (2014) and Arizona Cardinals (2015-17). He rushed for at least 1,000 yards in each of his six seasons in a Titans uniform.
In an interview aired June 29 on “Good Morning America,” Johnson told co-anchor Michael Strahan that he was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2025. There is currently no cure.
“There’s no history of ALS in my family,” said Johnson, who was using a speech-generating device based on recordings of his voice to speak. “My doctors believe my case is what’s called sporadic ALS, which is actually how the vast majority of ALS cases happen.
“… That’s one of the reasons this disease can be so shocking. It can happen to someone who never expected it.”
Johnson, 40, will become the 20th inductee into Tennessee’s Ring of Honor, with the late Dave McGinnis, a former assistant coach and radio analyst, to be added later in the season.
The group includes players from the Titans’ history as the Houston Oilers. Among those already in the Ring of Honor are quarterbacks George Blanda, Warren Moon and Steve McNair, as well as running backs Earl Campbell and Eddie George.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Legal inquiries into FIFA's ticket practices won't end when World Cup does
Attorney General Jennifer Davenport of New Jersey said her investigation into World Cup ticketing practices will go on. While the 2026 World Cup officially comes to a close on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the attorney general of New Jersey won’t stop her investigation into FIFA and its ticketing methods when the final whistle sounds.
In a report published Friday, New Jersey AG Jennifer Davenport told The Athletic that her office will continue to look at concerns that she and her New York counterpart, Letitia James, raised in May about the ways FIFA conducted the ticket-buying process for the eight matches hosted at MetLife Stadium during the 39-day tournament.
Those eight matches include the Sunday final, which pits Argentina against Spain.
In a joint news release issued in May, the attorneys general said they were looking into reports that FIFA allegedly hiked prices, changed ticketing maps after selling tickets to the public and created artificial scarcity.
Davenport addressed her continuing mission to protect consumers with The Athletic.
“For the initial ticket sales, FIFA seat maps divided the stadium into four zones, categories one through four,” Davenport said. “The category one seats were the most desirable. But after fans had already bought tickets, FIFA created new zones, which included a front row in a category, made up of the most desirable seats within the categories.
“We saw the reports indicating that there were fans who bought the tickets before these new zones were introduced but were then excluded from the seats and instead assigned less desirable seats. We also saw reports that some fans didn’t receive the tickets in the category they paid for.”
New Jersey and New York aren’t the only places where FIFA’s ticketing practices have come under fire. Officials in California and Texas also have been investigating claims regarding the 2026 World Cup.
In Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday, a court called FIFA’s practices on ticket resale outlet Ticombo “manipulative” and issued an injunction designed to force FIFA to stop selling tickets there. Per Newsweek, the court threatened to fine and/or imprison FIFA president Gianni Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom if they do not comply.
–Field Level Media
Rory McIlroy goes aggressive to stay in The Open hunt
Titans to induct Chris Johnson into Ring of Honor
