“If you can’t beat em’, join em’.” And if you can’t join em’, don’t stop talking about em’.

This summer has been the summer of the New York Knicks. There have been talk show appearances, endorsements, and podcasts abound.

But amidst the flurry of propaganda, there have been intermittent headlines regarding one LeBron James, who just can’t seem to stop talking about the Knicks.

Rich Paul kickstarted the dialogue back in free agency, when he nixed New York as a landing spot for James, amidst a whiteboard session debating potential destinations.

“If the Knicks hadn’t won, there would be no board,” Paul told Game Over podcast co-host, Max Kellerman. “He’d be going to the Knicks.”

Theories of James joining the Knicks for their title defense ran rampant on NBA airwaves after he opted out of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Even up to his two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, fans thought he might sign up for one last ride in New York.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer validated those dreams in one of his first appearances as a 76er, at Philadelphia’s media day:

“I had visions of definitely playing in the Garden, finishing my career in the Garden,” James told reporters on Sept. 28. “One of the best places I’ve ever played. I think it’s the number one arena in the world, as far as for a basketball player. But after they beat San Antonio, I was like, I couldn’t do it. Y’all wouldn’t have let me lay that down, at all.”

Conversations involving James and the Knicks didn’t stop there. In a more recent appearance, on his own Mind the Game podcast with co-host Steve Nash, James argued against Jalen Brunson’s Finals MVP candidacy:

“OG, I think, was the MVP of the team in the Finals,” he told Nash on the Oct. 14 episode. “Obviously, Brunson became the MVP. But it’s the small things: the chase-down block on (De’Aaron) Fox, the tip for the game, continuing to knock down threes. We knew Jalen Brunson was the head of the snake. But I think OG was the most steady person for that team.”

OG Anunoby had the definitive moment of New York’s title run, a game-winning tip-in shot to complete a 29-point comeback and take a 2-1 series lead.

But it’s Brunson who’s the team’s engine. Where he goes, the Knicks go. And when he put on an all-time performance to clinch the championship in Game 5, that’s where the team went, home with the Larry O’Brien trophy in arms.