On Tuesday evening, the Knicks defeated the Spurs 124-113 in the Emirates NBA Cup championship. New York is the third winner of the Cup. The Lakers were the inaugural winners, followed by Milwaukee in 2024-25.
Hall of Famer Paul Pierce is on the No Fouls Given podcast with Danny Green and Big Wos. On the most recent episode, they discussed the Knicks winning the Emirates NBA Cup. Paul Pierce is never afraid to speak his mind. He claims the New York Knicks “won’t win an NBA title in my lifetime.”
Paul Pierce is not confident in the Knicks’ chance to win a title
Paul Pierce clowns the Knicks and says the NBA Cup is the only championship they’ll ever win
“They won’t win an NBA title in my lifetime.”😳
(🎥 @NFGShow / https://t.co/A7KMqMIbPj) pic.twitter.com/ku2l2UaiVk
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 18, 2025
The clip above starts with Paul Pierce saying the Knicks will not win an NBA championship in his lifetime. Let’s start with the logistics of that. On October 13, Pierce turned 48 years old. The average life expectancy for a person in the United States is 78.4 years. If Pierce lived to the average life expectancy, New York would have to go another 30 years without winning a title. It’s already been 52 years since the Knicks last won a championship in 1973.
Paul Pierce was born in 1977. He’s seen the Knicks make appearances in the NBA Finals, but never hoisting the trophy. That’s why Pierce is confident New York will not win one in his lifetime. His co-host, Danny Green, disagreed and said the Knicks have a real chance to make it out of the East this season. They made the Conference Finals in 2025. New York was right on the doorstep of where they wanted to be.
The Knicks are the 2025 @emirates NBA Cup Champions! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/QMLNWglGZe
— NBA (@NBA) December 17, 2025
In a rebuttal, Paul Pierce said the team that has won the NBA Cup championship has never won the NBA Finals. While that is a fact, the sample size is only two seasons. When the Lakers won in 2023-24, they lost in the first round of the playoffs. In 2024-25, Milwaukee won the NBA Cup championship. They followed in Los Angeles’ footsteps and lost in the first round of the postseason.
Will that trend continue in 2025-26? The New York Knicks certainly hope not. Through their first 25 games, the team is 18-7. That is second in the Eastern Conference. When the Knicks are at full strength this season, they’ve been a hard team to beat.
First-year Knicks head coach Mike Brown has the team playing a new brand of basketball in 2025-26. One where Jalen Brunson is not required to initiate the offense on each possession. Can Mike Brown take New York to their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 26 years?
