Reality has come crashing down for the New York Knicks to begin the 2026-27 season. They may be the reigning NBA champion, but they surely aren't playing like it. They have now lost all of their first three games to begin their title defense, with their most recent defeat coming at home to the Orlando Magic, 111-102.

So far, championship hangover is proving to be a legitimate thing for the Knicks. They've been losing ground in the second half of games, and on Sunday, they allowed the Magic to outscore them by 13 points in the fourth quarter — with Orlando turning the tables on last season's comeback kings.

Suffice to say, these first few games of the new season have been quite the big slap to the Knicks' face as a collective — with head coach Mike Brown even admitting that their team is just flat-out playing poorly at the moment.

“The biggest thing is to coach them and tell them the truth… If we're trying, and trying the right way, sometimes you've got to fight through stuff like this to get yourself on track. Games like this will tell us like, our crap stinks. It does,” Brown said in his postgame presser, via SNY Knicks on X.

"The biggest thing is to coach them and tell them the truth… If we're trying, and trying the right way, sometimes you've got to fight through stuff like this to get yourself on track. Games like this will tell us like, our crap stinks. It does."

– Mike Brown pic.twitter.com/32sgBqXXqM

— SNY Knicks (@sny_knicks) October 26, 2026

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The most recent time that a defending champion went 0-3 to start the season came back in 2011, when the Dallas Mavericks lost their first three contests of the season. The Mavs would finish the lockout-shortened season with a 36-30 record, and they would get swept in the first round of the playoffs by the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder. Dallas wouldn't sniff title contention again until 2024.

There seems to be general sense of lethargy that is plaguing the Knicks' play as of late, and the fatigue from last season appears to be carrying over to this campaign. It will take some time for New York to get it together, but the slate for them isn't about to get any easier as the 3-0 Detroit Pistons will come into town on Tuesday night.