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New York Knicks are favored on the moneyline.

Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks

·Tue Oct 20·7:00 PM ET·NBC·New York, NY

By JR·3 min read

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Tuesday 10/207:00 PM

TLDR: The last time these two shared a floor in games that counted, the Knicks swept Philadelphia out of the second round on the way to their first title since 1973. On Tuesday, October 20, the Sixers come back to Madison Square Garden with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown and get the defending champs on banner night.

TUE 10/20, TUE OCT 20, 7:00 PM NBC

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The defending-champion Knicks raise their banner and open at home against a Philadelphia team rebuilt around LeBron James and Jaylen Brown after New York swept it in the 2026 conference semifinals. The Knicks bring a clean injury report and their full starting 5, while Philly's frontcourt is thin: Hukporti, Fall and Barlow are out, Bona and Simons are questionable but expected to go, and Dean Wade's ankle is a real game-time call. Neither side has shown its real rotation yet after a preseason of light minutes, so New York's continuity against Philadelphia's new star power is the open question.

Philadelphia 76ers

LeBron and Jaylen Brown added to Embiid-Maxey core
Bona and Simons trending toward playing despite questionable tags
Edgecombe's preseason finale absence was rest, not injury
Hukporti, Fall and Barlow all out; backup center thin
Wade's ankle a true game-time call after missing practice
Swept by these Knicks by 22.3 a game in May

New York Knicks

Clean injury report, full starting 5 available
Brunson sharp in limited preseason minutes post-wrist surgery
Banner night at MSG with title core intact
Mitchell Robinson gone, Drummond now backup center
Hart playing through finger damage, sat finale with ankle
Starters' preseason minutes kept light by design

Philadelphia spent the summer acting like a team that took that sweep personally. The Knicks won the 4 games by an average of 22.3 points, and the front office answered by sending Paul George and 4 draft picks to Boston for Jaylen Brown, then signing LeBron James at about $4 million a year. They join Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and second-year guard VJ Edgecombe. On paper that's 5 starters who could each be a first option, which has a way of looking better in October than it plays in March. Tipoff at the Garden is 7:00 PM ET.

New York starts its title defense with some loose ends, but none of them are keeping anyone off the floor. The Knicks report a clean injury sheet: Josh Hart sat the preseason finale with an ankle issue and is expected to play, still working through a right ring finger that needs a joint replacement. Jalen Brunson is back from surgery on his left wrist and looked fine in his first run, scoring 12 on 4-of-8 shooting in about 15 minutes of the preseason opener. The expected starting 5 is Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Hart, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns. Mitchell Robinson left for Boston, so Andre Drummond is now the backup center. The champs open as the home favorite.

Ignore what the two preseason meetings looked like on the scoreboard. Philadelphia won the exhibition opener 120-97 with LeBron, Embiid and Maxey all in street clothes, while Brunson and Towns played under 15 minutes each. Mike Brown said he wanted the bench auditioning and the last preseason game treated as a dress rehearsal, and he kept his starters on a short leash all month. That makes Tuesday the first real look at either rotation over 34 minutes.

The Sixers' problem is depth up front, and the final injury report didn't fix it. Ariel Hukporti, one of the 2 former Knicks Philly brought in along with Dillon Jones, ruptured his right Achilles and is done for the season. Tacko Fall (hip) is out, and Dominick Barlow is out at least 2 weeks with a lumbar spine bone stress response. Adem Bona (foot) and Anfernee Simons (hamstring) are both listed questionable but look like they'll go. The new worry is Dean Wade, questionable with an ankle after not practicing, and he's the one who's truly up in the air. Edgecombe sat the preseason finale for rest, so his status looks like maintenance more than anything.

Put those together and the minutes behind Embiid are the soft spot on a roster stacked everywhere else. If Bona plays, he's the only true backup center Philly has dressed. If he gets pulled late, it's Embiid's legs or small lineups with LeBron or Brown at the 4, against a Knicks frontcourt that pounded them in May. Losing Wade too would take away a forward who can soak up some of those minutes. New York has its own thin spot with Robinson gone, so the backup-center minutes on both benches could matter more than anyone would normally expect on opening night.

There's also the question of how 4 high-usage stars share one ball. That's the season-long story in Philadelphia, and banner night at the Garden is a tough first test. The Knicks have their championship continuity, a healthy starting 5 and the crowd that comes with both. The Sixers have more top-end talent than the team that got swept, and they've had all summer to think about it.

Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks

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