The New York Knicks snapped their 53-year championship drought after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the NBA Finals. The series featured multiple double digit comebacks by the Knicks, including the historic one in Game 4 in which they wiped away a 29-point deficit to win the game. And that comeback might have been spurred on by a gift from Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman to Knicks’ president Leon Rose.
Incredible: #Eagles GM Howie Roseman gave Knicks president Leon Rose a good luck charm before Game 4 that he carried during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run….
It was a piece of slate from the City of David in Jerusalem.
That night, the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit to beat the… pic.twitter.com/x9E7qbnKSQ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) June 19, 2026
Prior to the Knicks’ Game 4 comeback in the NBA Finals, the Eagles’ GM gifted Leon Rose a piece of slate from Jerusalem in Israel, an object that Roseman himself carried with him during Philadelphia’s run to the Super Bowl, and eventual championship. Perhaps that was what spearheaded the Knicks’ comeback in that memorable Game 4.
As far as the basketball side of things, some of Rose’s moves during his tenure as Knicks’ president have been questioned by fans, including the firing of Tom Thibodeau and subsequent replacement with Mike Brown, and the trade for Mikal Bridges in which the team gave up multiple draft picks.
But after winning the title, it’s clear that Rose knew what he was doing. Brown proved to be championship caliber head coach and Bridges broke out of a midseason slump to play a pivotal role against the Spurs in the Finals.
Among Rose’s other moves were trading for Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby, and signing Jalen Brunson to an extension amid his initial contract. A longtime NBA agent, Rose was initially hired by the Knicks as team president in 2020.
The New York Knicks snapped their 53-year championship drought after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the NBA Finals. The series featured multiple double digit comebacks by the Knicks, including the historic one in Game 4 in which they wiped away a 29-point deficit to win the game.