Cam'ron grew up in Harlem. He has worn New York Knicks gear in some of the most photographed moments of his career. He is, by his own description, a lifer. He is also not buying his team to win the 2026 NBA Championship — and he is not buying any of the noise around them either.
The Dipset rapper joined ESPN's First Take this week and made his position unambiguous, even after the Knicks swept the Philadelphia 76ers to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.
"I don't trust the Knicks," Cam'ron said. "Sorry, man. Listen, why are we acting like the Knicks are doing something that the Knicks should not be doing? Should the Knicks have lost to Atlanta? That's what happened."
His scepticism is grounded in pattern recognition. Cam'ron reminded the table that New York fell behind 2-1 to the Hawks in the first round and that the panic in Manhattan was real. He pointed to his now-infamous "banana in the tailpipe" warning to Knicks fans from earlier in the playoffs, and to a familiar habit of premature celebration in the five boroughs.
"Last year, the Knicks get to the Eastern Conference Finals," he said. "You know what they start doing? Naming streets after players. Karl-Anthony Towns Square, Jalen Brunson Avenue, Mitchell Robinson Bridge. What are we doing? It's the Eastern Conference Finals."
The exchange turned vintage First Take when Stephen A. Smith resurfaced his own April 24 outburst, in which he had threatened the Knicks with regime change should they have lost the Atlanta series. Smith took credit for lighting a fire that ignited New York's current seven-game win streak.
"Had they lost that damn series, there would be a new head coach," Smith said. "Had they lost that damn series, there would be a few new players gone this coming summer. You damn right. I said it and I meant it. And they ain't lose a game since."
Cam'ron acknowledged the run but refused to budge. Mike Brown's offensive overhaul — leaning into Karl-Anthony Towns as a point-centre, freeing Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges in motion — has produced exactly what New York hoped for when they hired him. The rapper still sees the same obstacle ahead.
"The problem is not the East right now," he said. "It's the Detroit Pistons. We're going to beat the Detroit Pistons. The Detroit Pistons have been the problem. We're going to take the Detroit Pistons out."
Cam'ron's concern is that the Knicks will inherit a Pistons or Cavaliers team battle-hardened by a seven-game series while New York rests — a scenario he framed as a blessing only if OG Anunoby returns. Anunoby has not played since aggravating a hamstring strain in Game 2 of the Philadelphia series. Mike Brown said this week that Anunoby practised in full on Friday.
"The longer that series goes, the more time it buys for OG to come back without a doubt," Cam'ron said. "This is what we need. The gods on our side. Orange blue skies, baby. Orange blue skies."
His verdict on the Knicks' broader trajectory? Consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances are not nothing. But he made it clear that the bar in New York is not "respectability." It is the trophy itself.
"Don't try to change the culture," he said. "The pressure still lets everybody know in a Knicks uniform we are supposed to win. Atlanta played with house money. Philly played with house money. We were supposed to beat them. We did it."
For Cam'ron, the only thing that breaks the cycle is hardware. Anything short of it — Eastern Conference Finals, streets, statues, anything — is, in his telling, just another banana in the tailpipe waiting to land.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/camron-doesnt-trust-knicks-banana-tailpipe-first-take-ecf-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
