Spike Lee confident Knicks can finally end championship drought: ‘This is our year’

Spike Lee is convinced the Knicks have done the right thing and will finally reap the benefits. “This is the year,” Spike Lee declared on Sunday. And who’s more qualified for such a declaration than Lee? The film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and author was in Springfield, Mass., over the weekend for his induction ceremony into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery. Sitting down with a reporter from the Associated Press, Lee projected a surfeit of confidence in his Knickerbockers as they head into their 2024-2025 campaign. “The Boston Celtics are the world champions … but this— this is our year,” he began. “We got the pieces … [We got] a great coach. [We got] Leon Rose [and] World Wide Wes doing their thing in the front office … I just feel deep down, in my heart, it’s going to happen this year,” Lee said. And then, cheekily hedging his bet, added, “barring injuries.” Lee, 67, was at the Garden in 1970, just 13 years old, watching his hometown team square off against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. And in 1994, egging on Pacers’ star Reggie Miller, unintentionally inducing the guard’s infamous 25-point fourth quarter during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals and the equally iconic choking choke sign from the Indiana star. And in 2024, helping willing Jalen Brunson and company to the absolute brink in a do-or-die Game 7. Lee has also become an avid supporter of Sabrina Ionescu and the Liberty as they try to win their first WNBA championship — even getting into it a bit with Aces star Kelsey Plum at Barclay Center during the playoffs. Only one of those postseason runs concluded with a parade down Broadway. This, though, Lee says, is the year. Who are we to doubt him?