The Knicks ventured to Brooklyn for the first time this season for a test at Barclays Center. But when the Knicks and Nets last engaged in a real fight that meant something, the game was lost before the Knicks even put their sneakers on, losing a free-agent chase without even getting a shot.
That was the summer of 2019, when the Nets had deals in place with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the prizes of the free-agent class that had led the Knicks to shed salary cap space and even their own young star, Kristaps Porzingis, to rid the roster of onerous contracts that got in the way of the star pursuit.