Starks: Knicks Still East's Team to Beat Despite LeBron's Move to Philly

The NBA offseason reshaped the Eastern Conference, with the Philadelphia 76ers landing LeBron James and Jaylen Brown and the Miami Heat adding Giannis Antetokounmpo. But according to Knicks legend John Starks, none of that changes the hierarchy at the top: the New York Knicks remain the team to beat.

Starks shared that assessment with TMZ Sports during an encounter in New York City on Friday morning, October 2, when he was asked whether the defending champions were receiving adequate respect following their title run.

"They're getting their respect, but I know coming back into the season you have to be hungry. If they still have that underdog mentality coming into the season, it's gonna be good for them," Starks told TMZ Sports.

The former shooting guard did not dismiss the conference's upgraded competition. He pointed to Philadelphia's star power, naming James, Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and the young guard VJ Edgecombe as reasons the 76ers cannot be overlooked.

"Their teams are gonna be good. You can't discount them. You got LeBron, you got Jaylen Brown, you got [Tyrese] Maxey down there in Philly, as well as the young kid, [VJ] Edgecombe," Starks told TMZ Sports.

He extended the same caution to Miami, where Antetokounmpo now plays. "We got a lot to fight for this upcoming season," Starks told TMZ Sports.

The Sixers' offseason haul has been significant enough that some sportsbooks now list Philadelphia as the favorite to emerge from the East. Starks, however, views James differently at this stage of his career, describing him primarily as a "facilitator" rather than the dominant scorer he once was.

Knicks point guard Jose Alvarado, meanwhile, is not troubled by skeptics. "It's New York -- they're gonna hate regardless. We like the respect we get, but it is what it is," Alvarado told TMZ Sports.

For Knicks fans, the message from a franchise icon is clear: the roster moves around the conference have raised the degree of difficulty, but the defending champions enter the new season as the standard everyone else is chasing.