The Knicks Are ‘Championship Contenders’ With Karl-Anthony Towns, Says Kenny Smith

Kenny Smith isn’t holding back — he’s very high on the New York Knicks.

The Knicks have been one of the top up-and-coming teams in the NBA over the past two seasons, led by MVP candidate Jalen Brunson. Although New York has yet to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals during this current regime, they’ve advanced to the semifinals in each of the past two seasons, losing in seven games to the Indiana Pacers last season.

However, they got even better just days before the start of the regular season with the trade acquisition of four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, who seems to be the perfect fit alongside the playmaking Brunson.

The longtime “Inside The NBA” analyst — Smith is originally from Queens, New York — forecasts that the move will lift the Knicks from being a playoff contender into a “championship contender.”

“I think for the Knicks, it makes them contenders instead of playoff contenders,” says Smith in a one-on-one interview. “They become championship contenders. What KAT does, he puts everyone in their natural position. I thought they were a great team last year — but they were undersized.”

Smith details that the Knicks often played smaller players at a position bigger than their actual size. Acquiring the 7-foot Towns, who is a proven three-point shooter and a capable rebounder, should solve those problems. It also helps that Towns is coming off a year in which he helped lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to the best defense in the league — 106.5 points allowed per game and 109.0 defensive rating — along with the fifth-best ranking in blocks.

“Their best small forward was playing power forward,” says Smith of OG Anunoby. “Their best two-guard was playing small forward. At times, Brunson had to move to the two guard. I just thought that they were undersized, whereas with KAT you're not undersized anymore. Now you can compete with the teams that have natural position players. You become a contender.”

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The Knicks were already among the top four teams in the Eastern Conference with an undersized squad led by Brunson. With Towns — a career 39.8% shooter from beyond the arc — along with the acquisition of Mikal Bridges in the offseason, who averaged 19.6 points per game last season, New York suddenly has the look of a team that can match up with the defending champs, the Boston Celtics.

People will find out rather quickly how well the Knicks match up with the Celtics when they face them in the season opener to tip off the NBA season on Tuesday night. While Boston will be without their best big man in Kristaps Porzingis, they’ll still return the rest of their nucleus from last season with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday.

“You go position by position, player by player, they can arguably say they can win three out of five positions against every team they play,” says Smith of this year’s Knicks. “That is new for them in New York. They've haven't been able to say that in two decades. Patrick Ewing was probably the only person that could say that — I can win my position and the other guys haven't been able to say that in a long time.”

While Smith does mention the new-look Philadelphia 76ers — they added Paul George to the mix — along with the Milwaukee Bucks as other potential threats in the Eastern Conference to the Celtics, he ranks the Knicks among those teams.

“That would be the goal,” says Smith of the Knicks of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals. “Whereas the goal was to make it to the playoffs and now the goal is to not get beat in the playoffs. That's different. I think they have a great opportunity this year and in many years to come.”

As Smith gears up for another season on “Inside The NBA” — his 28th season on the Emmy Award-winning show — he’s partnering up with FanDuel. Simply put, FanDuel is offering free NBA League Pass to new and existing customers.

“The start of the season is right around the corner, FanDuel is making a great offer for anyone who makes a $5 bet,” says Smith. “It's three months free of League Pass, which is well worth it. That's exciting. But any new user who bets the $5 and actually wins it, they get an additional $300 in bonus bets. Free League Pass, you win the bet if you're a new user — and you get the $300 in additional bonus bets — that's a no-brainer.”

Smith — who has teamed up with Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal for a number of years on “Inside The NBA” — admits that he’s not a great bettor when it comes to individual bets. However, he does brag that he’s great in the office pool setting and beats his co-workers.

“I would call myself the master of the office pool,” says Smith while smiling. “I used to win office pools all of the time. Those are the ones I'm pretty good at. When we talk about different times of the year and what teams are going to make the playoffs, that's when I'm really good. Individual stuff, I'm not good, because I bet with my heart.”

The two-time NBA champion admits that he never bets against his favorite teams — he’s best known for his tenure with the Houston Rockets — and that often costs him when it comes to betting.

“I never bet with my mind, I only bet with my heart,” says Smith. “If my heart is right, then I'm really good. I never bet against my favorite teams that play. In those terms, I'm not great. The office pool setting, you're not betting with your heart — you're betting on a vast amount of things. But individually, I bet strictly with my heart. I never bet against players that I like.”