On March 2, 2020, Leon Rose was officially hired as the president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks. Before being hired, Rose was one of the most powerful agents in sports history. He served as the co-head of the basketball division at CAA Sports, the biggest and most valuable sports agency in the world.
During his time as an agent, Rose oversaw $1 billion in contract negotiations. In 1995, Rose signed his first client, undrafted Temple guard Rick Brunson, father of current Knick and 2026 Finals MVP Jalen Brunson.
Despite having zero front office experience, Knicks owner James Dolan took a chance on Rose, and it has paid off big time. The Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years on June 13, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 to complete the series in five games and cap a 16-3 playoff run, one of the greatest playoff runs of all time.
Rose built this Knicks squad in an unorthodox way for today’s NBA.
All five Knicks starters were acquired via either free agency (Jalen Brunson) or trade (Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart). In this article, I will dive deep into the process behind each of these moves and how Rose put together one of the most successful playoff teams in NBA history.
Jalen Brunson
Let’s start with the first move that Rose made to form the championship-winning starting five for the Knicks. On July 12, 2022, the Knicks officially signed Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $104 million contract. At the time of the signing, Brunson was represented by CAA (he still currently is), Rose’s former agency.
Also, Brunson’s primary representatives at CAA are agents Aaron Mintz and Sam Rose (Leon Rose’s son). When you add all of this to the fact that Jalen’s dad was Rose’s first client, the match between these two was obvious.
It was so apparent that many around the NBA world did not like it. The NBA launched a tampering investigation that eventually resulted in the Knicks forfeiting a 2025 second-round draft pick. In July 2024, Brunson signed one of the most team-friendly deals in modern sports history. Brunson and the Knicks agreed to a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension.
If Brunson had waited until the 2025 offseason to negotiate an extension, he would have been eligible to sign a five-year, $269 million max contract. Brunson accepting $113 million less allowed the Knicks to avoid the second apron and eventually pull off blockbuster trades for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Ever since becoming a Knick, Brunson has taken New York City by storm. The Knicks captain has averaged 26.3 points per game and 6.8 assists in his four seasons in New York while turning the ball over only 2.3 times per game. He has also shot 48 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc.
Most recently, Brunson scored 45 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to send the San Antonio Spurs home and deliver New York its first NBA championship since 1973. By signing Brunson, Rose arguably pulled off the greatest free-agent signing in NBA history.
Josh Hart
Rose’s next move was trading for Jalen Brunson’s college roommate and teammate on Villanova’s 2016 national championship team, Josh Hart. The Knicks acquired Hart midseason in 2023 in a 4-team trade from Portland where they sent Cam Reddish, Ryan Arcidiacono, and a 2023 lottery-protected first-round pick to the Trail Blazers. They also sent Svi Mykhailuk to the Charlotte Hornets in this deal.
Ever since becoming a Knick, Hart has embodied everything that New York is about: grit, hustle and heart. His Game 1 performance in the NBA Finals perfectly captures that. In Game 1 against the Spurs, Hart only scored 3 points, but he grabbed 15 rebounds, dished out 6 assists, had 4 steals, and had a game-high +22 plus-minus. Hart is also one of the best transition players in the association with his ability to see the floor and finish at the rim.
The chemistry between Hart and Brunson from Villanova did not skip a beat when Hart first became a Knick. This was another excellent move Rose orchestrated.
OG Anunoby
On December 30, 2023, Rose made a trade that shocked the NBA world. Rose traded away two homegrown players in RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley. He traded both Barrett and Quickley, along with a 2024 second-round pick (via the Detroit Pistons) to the Raptors for OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn.
Anunoby headlined the deal, and he has been a huge difference-maker both offensively and defensively since he has put on orange and blue. In the 2025-26 season, Anunoby was named All-Defensive Second Team. During the 2025-26 season, Anunoby was a very good player for the Knicks. He scored 16.7 points per game, grabbed 5.2 rebounds, averaged 1.6 steals, shot 48.4 percent from the field, and shot 38.6 percent from three.
But in the postseason, Anunoby took his game to a whole new level. In 17 playoff games, Anunoby put up 20.1 points per contest, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, shot 56.1 percent from the field, and 48.9 percent from three. Anunoby was plainly elite and one of the best players in the league in these playoffs. He will be remembered most for his game-winning tip-in off of a Jalen Brunson missed three with 1.2 seconds left to complete the Knicks historic 29-point comeback in game 4 against the Spurs.
The ascension of Anunoby in the postseason was one of the main reasons the Knicks brought home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Mikal Bridges
Next, on June 25, 2024, the Knicks and Nets pulled off a blockbuster trade. The Knicks traded Bojan Bogdanovic, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite, four unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031), a 2025 protected first-round pick (via the Milwaukee Bucks, top-four protected), a 2028 unprotected first-round pick swap, and finally a 2025 second-round draft pick.
A major haul
The Knicks in return got a package that was centered around two-way iron man Mikal Bridges. This trade was heavily criticized for a while because of the draft picks the Knicks surrendered.
But in the 2026 postseason, no one cared about those picks at all. Mikal Bridges showed up in a big way.
In this season’s playoffs, Bridges was elite on both ends of the floor. He was incredibly efficient,
as he shot an absurd 55.9 percent from the field.
Specifically, in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Bridges played his best game of the series. Bridges put up 20 points, had six assists and one steal, and shot 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-6 from three-point range. One thing that really attributed to this trade being a success for Rose and the Knicks was the fact that Mikal Bridges was college teammates with both Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. Brunson and Bridges won two championships at Villanova, while Hart won one. The Knicks were a team with great connectivity and chemistry, and these three college teammates definitely played a huge role in that.
Karl-Anthony Towns
Last but not least, the final move that Rose constructed was trading for All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. On October 2, 2024 (the eve of training camp), Rose made a deal that absolutely no one was expecting. The Knicks dealt Julius Randle, who was an integral piece in turning the Knicks franchise around, and fan favorite and former Villanova teammate with Brunson, Hart, and Bridges, sharpshooter Donte DiVincenzo.
Like the Bridges trade, this trade was considered a loss before the 2026 playoffs began as Towns had a disappointing 2025-26 regular season. However, Towns completely flipped the script in the Knicks’ legendary 19-game stretch to win the title.
In the playoffs, Mike Brown and the Knicks coaching staff used Towns as more of a playmaker and ran more of the offense through him at the top of the key. This worked wonders for Towns and the Knicks as a team. In the regular season, Towns only averaged 3.0 assists per game. But in the playoffs, Towns averaged 4.9 assists and had 3 games where he reached 10 assists. The revitalization of Towns totally changed the outlook of the Knicks.
So that’s it. That is how Leon Rose, a former agent with no prior front office experience, masterfully assembled the starting five of a team that had a dominating 16-3 stretch en route to bringing New York City an NBA title.
