NBA exec says Knicks have ‘overachieved’ this season: ‘I never loved their team’

Heading into the 2025 NBA Playoffs, there weren’t tons of folks who penciled the New York Knicks in as a lock to reach the Eastern Conference Finals. After all, they hadn’t advanced past the second round of the playoffs since the year 2000 at the time.

Additionally, it isn’t all that much of a controversial belief that the Knicks gave up more than they should have to acquire wing Mikal Bridges via trade last summer. New York relinquished a whopping five first-round picks (including four unprotected) to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the trade, which included other pieces for both teams but was headlined by Bridges.

So, perhaps unsurprisingly, one anonymous NBA executive thinks that the Knicks have overachieved this season despite overpaying for Bridges and battling some other limitations with regard to players like Jalen Brunson and O.G. Anunoby.

“They’ve overachieved,” the executive said, via ESPN. “I never loved their team. I think there’s a ceiling with Brunson [and] they overpaid for Mikal [in the trade last summer]. OG has been awesome, but he’s limited in what he can do.

“They’re the better collection of parts, but it fits better for Indy and the style of play works better.”

It’s an accomplishment itself that New York is in its first Eastern Conference Finals in more than two decades, but the Knicks’ surprise playoff run is in jeopardy of coming to a close very soon. The Knicks are just one loss away from elimination, as they’re in a 1-3 hole in their best-of-seven series versus the Indiana Pacers.

To boot, Bridges has put together consecutive forgettable performances in the series. He shot just 12-of-33 from the field in Games 3 and 4 combined and scored 32 points in that two-game span.

The Knicks might need Bridges to prove why he was worthy of them giving up so many first-round picks to obtain him if they want to earn a win in Thursday’s Game 5 and stay alive in these playoffs.

A big two-way performance from him would go a long way toward the Knicks picking up their first home victory of the Eastern Conference Finals. New York put itself in a hole early after it dropped Games 1 and 2 at Madison Square Garden.

By all accounts, Knicks fans should be thrilled with how this season has panned out regardless of the outcome of the Eastern Conference Finals series, but the executive’s comments also may provide a hard dose of reality.