A Knicks fan is experiencing a shift in loyalty.
Once known for capitalizing on New York’s sports frustrations, a long-time Knicks supporter has embraced a new outlook. With the team on the brink of clinching its first championship in 53 years, the fan is enthusiastically promoting optimistic merchandise, rallying behind the chant “Go NY Go NY Go!”
“I’ve been sharing my genuine excitement and reflecting on how far we’ve come over the past 10 to 15 years,” said Justin Silberlust, the creator of “Forever Next Year NY,” in an interview with The Post. He expressed his joy over New York’s remarkable journey to the finals.
“There was a time when we felt hopeless, but now look where we are,” added the 28-year-old Dix Hills resident, still in disbelief over the historic Game 4 comeback this past Wednesday. The Knicks overturned a 29-point deficit to secure a nail-biting 107-106 victory against the Spurs.
Silberlust has quickly become an online sensation, embodying the unwavering faith of Knicks fans. This follows his previous success with a brand that resonated with the shared experience of New York sports disappointments.
Mike Brown’s group has inspired enough hope that the entrepreneur has had to rebrand from “Forever Next Year” to merchandise like blue-and-orange basketball t-shirts that read “next year is now.”
“Finally getting to the finals, for the first time in 27 years,” he said, “people have really been resonating with the ‘Forever Is Now’ slogan.”
“We were always saying, there’s always next year,” Silberlust said of the Brooklyn Dodgers favorite phrase that became a one-size-fits-all for the local teams.
The finance worker is also a glutton for punishment — making the prospect of beating San Antonio for the Knicks’ first NBA title since 1973 even more savory.
He’s aligned himself in the Bermuda Triangle of God-awful fandom, pulling for the Jets and the Mets — two teams completing the trifecta of what’s been an entire young lifetime without a single championship.
“It feels like it’s never going to happen. It feels like we’re always going to be saying this.”
Silberlust took action on his sports demons in 2025, having his brother Jared build a website featuring count-up tickers for his favorite teams’ lengthy title droughts —1986 for the Mets and 1969 for the Jets.
Soon after, he turned the angst into a viral side hustle clothing and social media brand about the toxic relationships.
“We’re always going to be showing up for these teams every single year, almost just out of blind loyalty, out of this delusion,” said Silberlust, who hard launched during the Mets’ September collapse last year.
“Being a Mets, Jets, Knicks fan is just my personality, it’s who I am…I combined this idea of this hope that just doesn’t seem to go away with this frustration.”
Fans identified with the hopeless sports romantic and apparel in the local teams’ colors, displaying the gut-punching “Forever Next Year NY” phrase, which said all too much — and apparently by all ages.
“I’ve had 83-year-old grandmas email me, saying that they love the merch.”
Many also quickly signed on for Silberlust’s videos highlighting cheery but dead end times of the past, like that of Jeremy Lin turning Madison Square Garden into “Linsainity” circa 2011.
“I’ve grown my following from about 1,200 followers. Today, I have almost 15,000 across platforms.”
He didn’t do it to state the obvious; instead, “I wanted to reverse the curse.”
As the Knicks take a 3-1 stranglehold on the series, Silberlust can already start to feel the “out of body experience” of finally seeing one of his teams reign supreme.
“We have waited for a while, but we’re here right now,” he said. “We’re going to embrace it. We’re going to be happy about it.”