The New York Knicks are the 2026 NBA champions and New York City couldn't be happier for them. The city could, however, be just a little happier if some of the celebratory merch was a little better.
Darren Rovell of CLLCT went on X this morning and remarked that he went to his local store to find Knicks merch and called all of the options "horrendous." He then showed some photos of what his options were.
"New stock of Knicks champs shirts in at my local store. It’s impossible for them to be more horrendous. This isn’t that hard," Rovell wrote.
One was a Danhausen "You Are Uncursed!" shirt, another was a simple design with the Larry O'Brien trophy in the center, a third had "NEW YO-RK" on the front with "KNICKS" sideways and a fourth is a photo of an eaten apple with "KNICKS" in the middle.
Fumble?
Rovell wasn't the only one who was thoroughly unimpressed by the design options. Some complained that the options have looked terribly uninspired while others lamented some of the retailers that have been lost to time:
"We are in the golden age of merch design fumbling. Its been awful for a long time now. Homefield apparel the rare mainstream one that gets it," one user remarked.
"The one with the trophy is OK, but would pass on the others," wrote another.
"Modell’s should’ve been around for this championship," a third lamented.
"Fanatics is so bad."
"Not one decent one?"
"Just the overall point though being that even Knicks twitter accounts (and other teams too, obviously) have produced far better designs than companies with a zillion dollars. It really shouldn't be this difficult."
© Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
The good news is the city of New York will be celebrating this championship for more than just a week. There will be plenty of time in the weeks, months and even years to come for fans to find merch designs that suit their tastes.
Independent artists and smaller companies are already churning out gear that would make mouths water.
But the big box stores really need to up their game a little.
