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This Preposterous Vince Goodwill Take Diminishes the Knicks’ Championship, and for That Reason, I Must Agree With it

Matt Schultz

By Matt Schultz

Published:

Jun 13, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates with his teammates after the Knicks defeat the San Antonio Spurs during game five of the 2026 NBA Finals at Frost Bank Center.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Vince Goodwill popped off with one of the best, wildest takes I’ve heard in a long time Wednesday morning on Get Up. It was awesome:

“I think dynasty is better for the sport, because if we’re gonna look at the way that that the NBA experienced its golden age, those two decades where we went from Magic and Bird, and Isiah in between, to Michael Jordan, that’s where you had the greatest explosion and growth, and it’s not just because those guys hoarded the championships. Now you’re legislating parity. The owners are saying, ‘You aren’t allowed to be great for an extended period of time,’ because – look at Oklahoma City with Durant and Westbrook and Harden. They weren’t allowed to keep their three guys together because the money says, ‘Okay, you drafted too well. You drafted three MVPs. You can’t hold onto them.’ The reason that Knicks won this championship is because Minnesota could not afford to hold on to Karl-Anthony Towns, and he became the final piece for them… I like to know that greatness is validated. How do we know that any of the last eight champions are actually validated? Because they have not done it again.”

Lot to get into here. Like all the best takes, there is a great balance of truth and insanity in this. I truly went on an emotional journey listening to it. I flip-flopped on whether I agreed a handful of times. Here’s where I was at each step during the take monologue:

Vince claims that the NBA having eight different champions over the last eight years is bad for the league

At this point, I was intrigued. I could see this being true. There is something that feels slightly off to me about the league’s titles over the last near-decade. Doesn’t it kind of feel like championships mean a little less than they used to? I know in my heart that the 2019 Raptors title is not the same as the 2018 Warriors title. The Warriors one meant more. But I haven’t been able to put my finger on why yet. Perhaps “Vince Goodwill will do it…” I thought. “You have my attention, Vince…”

The reason parity is bad, he says, is that none of the recent champs feel as “valid” to him as the dynastic champions of the past — teams that won multiple titles over a years-long window

This I actually do agree with. I like the take so far. “Vince has solved the problem,” I thought. “The reason the Warriors’ titles felt so impactful and important is because that team was so dominant. There was no question that they were the best team of that era – unlike recent champions, like the 2024 Boston Celtics, for example, who won one title by beating a bunch of injured teams and then never got close again. Technically, that team and the 2018 Warriors are both equally champions, but they are not equal. Yes… Keep going, Vince… You’re a genius… You’ve cracked the code…”

Vince says the reason for the parity is that the league is now legislating it – the NBA has created rules to mandate parity, rather than allowing dynasties to form

This is true! The hard cap, the second apron, the lack of roster flexibility – Vince is on a roll! Yes. The NBA messed everything up by making it impossible to keep good teams together for more than a year or two. Vince is on a heater. I will follow you anywhere, Vince.

Vince says the reason the Knicks won the 2026 Finals is because the Minnesota Timberwolves couldn’t afford to keep KAT, and so they sent him to the Knicks. He concluded that the Knicks only won the title because of cap restrictions.

This is where Vince lost me… Damnit, Vince… You were the chosen one…

YouTube video

He shouldn’t have brought up a specific example. That’s when I began thinking critically about his take, and the argument started crumbling. His KAT point immediately raised the obvious rebuttal in my mind: hasn’t every NBA team ever had to figure out how to manage its cap sheet? Isn’t that pretty much the biggest hurdle in winning a championship? The NBA has never been baseball in the ’90s – you’ve never been able to just go out and buy every good player and run out the unquestioned best team. And don’t the Knicks have to play under the same rules as everyone else? It’s not like they’re the exception. Maximizing talent without spending more than everyone else is the name of the game. The Knicks cobbled together the most talent for the least amount of money, which is why they won. That’s always been how it works.

In the end, it turned out the tweets were right. Vince’s take is dumb as hell…

And yet…

I have flipped back one more time.

I have decided that I agree with Vince, despite the flaws in his logic. The reason is simple: Vince’s take diminishes the Knicks’ championship. It makes it sound like it was easy and pointless and trivial, and more a matter of dumb luck than anything difficult or noteworthy actually being accomplished. Everyone is roasting him online for calling modern NBA championships “participation trophies.” But not me. I stand with you, Vince. I will gladly call the Knicks’ title a participation trophy. It barely counts. Let’s all forget it ever happened… Lost to time… Yes… 

Matt Schultz
Matt Schultz

Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com

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