Ahead of the nail-biting 2026 NBA playoffs, New York Knicks owner James Dolan gave his team an inspirational talk that included an unconventional request: that the players give up sex for 10 weeks in the lead-up to the finals.
In a clip shared recently on social media by Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart via their The Roommates Show podcast, Dolan, 71, delivered a passionate speech to the team as they prepared to enter the playoffs.
“I had this idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks,” the Madison Square Garden CEO said.
“You don’t have to give up sex for the next 10 weeks, but, the Spartans, they denied themselves, right, so that they could have an edge,” he continued. “Get the edge. Go home, talk to your wives... don’t tell them it was my idea. But let them know what this is going to be like, what your commitment is going to be like, and that they’re going to have to sacrifice too.”
Insisting that “you are going to have to sacrifice if you want to achieve this,” Dolan added, “You have to have a discussion with yourself about what these next 10 weeks are ... because it’s only 10 weeks.”
Insisting that it was “not a long time,” he implored, “But if you can now focus yourselves, sacrifice everything around you for these next 10 weeks to win that championship, I believe you could do it ... I believe you know you could do it. But will you do it?”
He suggested that the players each go home and have a serious conversation with their significant others. “I do want you to tell them one thing that I’ve said: When we win the championship, we will get rings. And when we get rings, so will they,” Dolan noted, insisting that he will buy a ring for each one of their partners.
“Because their contribution is going to be very important to this team to win,” he added. “If you don’t have a significant other, most of you do, find someone that is sharing this journey with you for the next 10 weeks and make that person come with you, right? And we’ll give that person a ring.”
Throughout the eight-week playoffs, the Knicks cruised through each round, defeating the Atlanta Hawks 4-2 in the opening series before sweeping both the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0. They then faced the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals, clinching the championship in five games.
"Like Spartans. They denied themselves so they can have an edge. Get the edge." pic.twitter.com/IGYu8MZ68D
— David Astramskas (@redapples) June 16, 2026
The team’s Saturday win ended a 53-year championship drought and set off a night of celebratory chaos across the city’s five boroughs.
“People have been waiting for this for 53 years. And there have been so many heartbreaks, so many near misses, so many years every year where we have told ourselves it’s the year,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday in an interview with MS Now’s Jacob Soboroff. “And for it to actually happen now, I mean, there’s nothing more we can ask for as New Yorkers.”
He added: “It’s honestly a beautiful thing.”
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