Mike Breen: Stephen A. Smith ‘completely misunderstood’ my point

Mike Breen engaging in a back-and-forth with Stephen A. Smith is the disagreement nobody saw coming, but the New York Knicks are back, baby.

Toward the end of the Knicks’ blowout win over the Chicago Bulls last Friday night, Breen noted the overwhelming sense from fans and media is that this season will be a disappointment if they don’t make it to the NBA Finals.

“Sometimes it’s easy to forget, there were a lot of dark years,” Breen said. “And now that blows me away where it would be a disappointment if they don’t get to the NBA Finals.”

Smith heard Breen’s epilogue and while he first showered the legendary Knicks announcer with praise, he quickly pivoted to calling him out for seemingly attempting to lower the bar of the fanbase. Tuesday afternoon, Breen joined The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York and responded to Smith, claiming the First Take host missed the point.

Stephen A. Smith rips ESPN colleague Mike Breen for “blasphemous” comments about where the Knicks were before Leon Rose became president of the team pic.twitter.com/bWTiWnS0wa

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 6, 2026

“He completely misunderstood what I said,” Breen told Kay of Smith’s rant. “The whole idea that I was giving the front office a pass or lowering fans’ expectations, that was not the point of it. The point of it was directly to Knick fans, who have suffered through so many rough years. And look at the level they’re at now, look at the standard they’re at now. Whereas if they don’t make the Finals, their season is considered a disappointment. And that’s true, and we’ve said on the air all season long. After making it to the Conference Finals last year, and then Tom Thibodeau gets fired, Mike Brown comes in. The pressure was on Mike Brown and this team to get to the Finals because anything shy of that after making the Conference Finals last year was a disappointment. So that’s not the point.

“The point was to enjoy the progress of where you’ve come from. The team for a number of years was one of the worst teams in the NBA, and Knicks fans suffered through that, and they’ve stayed loyal. And now all of a sudden, they’re rooting for a team that if they don’t make the Finals, that’s a disappointment. That’s amazing progress, that’s the point I was making.”

Breen said he chose Friday night to make his point, because the Knicks won their 50th game for third straight season. It was the first time the Knicks won 50 games in three consecutive seasons since 1992-95, and Breen believes the accomplishment deserved to be recognized.

And Breen is right! Leon Rose and this front office deserves credit for doing what Isiah Thomas, Donnie Walsh, Glen Grunwald, Steve Mills, Phil Jackson and Scott Perry failed to do by turning the Knicks into a perennial contender. Knicks fans should enjoy the ride. But enjoying the ride and taking solace in the fact that the Knicks are perennial contenders won’t lessen expectations.

The fact that Breen said “it blows me away” is what appeared to initially imply he may have been telling fans they shouldn’t consider it a disappointing season if the Knicks fail to make the Finals. Breen, however, explained to Kay that wasn’t the case. And after his explanation, it seems like Breen and Smith are actually in agreement on the issue.

It’s great that we’re talking about the Knicks contending for a championship instead of a lottery pick. That still doesn’t change the fact that anything less than a Finals appearance is a disappointment. And that’s the great part about being a diehard fan. We love the game and our teams to the point where it can be hard to even enjoy playoff runs because games are more stressful than fun. But the disappointment that comes with failing to achieve the ultimate goal of a championship is still better than the disappointment of not being relevant.