Have the Knicks Provided a Roadmap For Shaking Off Trumpism?

The Knicks' championship run showed that humility, self-sacrifice, and unity across difference are not out of fashion.

I don’t want to taint the New York Knicks’ glorious run to the championship last night with politics, but I can’t help thinking about how this Knicks team and the way they played represent the antithesis of Trumpism. I hope their success shows that there is a way out of our troubled times. Perhaps the fact that they lost the only game Trump attended is an omen we should pay attention to.

The Knicks prevailed because they played an unselfish brand of basketball. Indeed, their roster construction was enabled by the selfless act of their captain to sign for $100 million less than he could have demanded in order to bring in additional talente to New York. Whether they won or lost, they consistently emphasized their belief in each other and their connectedness as a team.

What a breath of fresh air this two-month playoff run was amid the ego-centrism, selfishness, greed, and hyper-individualism of the Trump era. Watching the Knicks gave us at least a temporary respite from Trump’s self-obsession and narcissism, his incessant pilfering of taxpayer funds to build grand monuments to himself, and his administration’s systematic destruction of programs to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of the public at large. Why spend $50 on drugs to prevent a person from getting AIDS in Africa when you can throw a $72 million birthday party for yourself by holding an MMA fight card on the White House lawn?

This Knicks team stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s demeaning of immigrants and disdain for American diversity. Five of the 17 Knicks were born abroad; four others are children of immigrants. The Knicks’ hero Jalen Brunson draws on his mother’s Jamaican roots. The new NBA champs personify the maxim that “immigrants—they get the job done.” The Knicks’ victory is also bringing unadulterated joy to the world’s most diverse city. It is so powerful to see New Yorkers of every imaginable race, class, and ethnicity celebrating an achievement in contrast to the Trumpian ethos that is powered primarily by stoking fear of the other and fomenting division.

The determined, scrappy Knicks also provided a vastly different version of masculinity than that celebrated by Trump and ultra-MAGAism. These Knicks never draw attention to themselves. There’s no pulling out their jerseys after a good play as a way of saying “me, me, me” that you so often see in sports these days. They fought physically but reveled more in perfect passes and team defense. They didn’t demean their opponents or blame others for their own shortcomings. The Knicks’ 7-foot center, Karl-Anthony Towns, played a cameo role in The Devil Wears Prada. The Knicks showed you can be tough, physical men without embracing toxic masculinity.

Any American city will get behind a winning sports team.

But it gives me hope to see the explosion of joy it gave all New Yorkers to rally behind this selfless, humble, attractive team. Humility, self-sacrifice for a higher purpose, teamwork, diversity, and respect for women are not passé. They can be the values that fuel a movement to dislodge Trumpism.

Let’s go Knicks!