NYC NOW - Knicks Playoffs Begin, New York Liberty Add Satou Sabally and Tipping Culture in NYC

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

It is a big week for basketball fans in New York. The Knicks are heading into a first round playoff matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, while the New York Liberty prepare for a new WNBA season with roster changes, new additions and a new coach. Sports reporter Priya Desai joins us to break it all down. Plus, WNYC producer Elizabeth Shwe explores tipping culture in New York City, from coffee counters and bars to delivery apps, and what experts say is a fair tip in 2026. -Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail]

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre. New York City's basketball teams are having quite a week. Well, everyone except the Brooklyn Nets. No shade. It's just the facts. Area Hoops fans will cheer on the Knicks as they host the Atlanta Hawks for the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the WNBA is gearing up for its season next month, and rosters are filling up.

That includes some changes with the New York Liberty. That's ahead on today's episode. Plus, what's the appropriate amount to tip these days? Think about it. In the meantime, here's what's happening in New York City. The organizer of Santa Con is facing a federal wire fraud charge. Thousands of people dressed in Santa costumes descend on Manhattan each year for the Christmas-themed bar crawl, which claims to raise money for charity.

But a WNYC investigation found the organization only gives a fraction of its proceeds to nonprofits. Now, federal prosecutors say organizer, Stefan Pildes, spent a lot of the money on concert tickets, fine dining, luxury vacations, and other personal expenses. Attorney information was not immediately available. Were you personally victimized by this guy who ran Santa Con? The FBI wants to know. The agency's New York Division is asking anyone to come forward and fill out some information online if they think they were swindled. The Trump administration will resume federal funding for the Second Avenue Subway. extension. The move comes six months after the White House halted payments for the project,

which is working to extend the queue line into East Harlem. They said they were reviewing the MTA's contracting practices, particularly requirements under state law that mandate some contracts, go to minority and women-owned businesses. In a letter, the U.S. Department of Transportation says they still found it troubling that the MTA would consider race and sex in awarding contracts, but that the MTA is complying with the Trump administration's requirements. New Yorkers can now see a snapshot of the art people are making across the city at the museum MoMA PS1. Greater New York 2026 is a showcase of pieces made by people living and working in our region, which happens every five years. The exhibition features more than 150 pieces for more than 50 artists.

This year's installment of Greater New York also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the museum, which used to be known as the PS1 Contemporary Arts Center. The series runs through August 14th. It's the postseason for the New York Knicks. Meanwhile, the Liberty have filled their roster a week after the WNBA draft. More on that after a quick break. It's peak basketball time in New York with hoops fans,

looking forward to the NBA playoffs, and the WNBA draft winners headed to their respective teams with their season season. starting soon. Joining me to discuss it all is sports reporter Priya Desai. Hey, Priya. Hello. Welcome to the show. Happy spring. Listen, it is an exciting time. I'm sweating a little bit. Basketball is happening. We usually kick things off with the ladies, but today we're going to kick it off with the fellas. So the New York Knicks are back in the playoffs, and they're gearing up for their

first round against the Atlanta Hawks. Now, the last time these two teams, met up in 2021. It wasn't pretty for the Knicks. Do you want to remind us about that 2021 series? Do I? Can you remind us? That series feels like 10 years ago, but also like last year, all in one swoop. Yeah.

Yeah, but it was Hawks in five. The Knicks won one game. Yeah. They just could not get past Trey Young. And it was a real wake-up call for that franchise that they just didn't have that star power, that lineup that could go far in the playoffs. So you're looking at quite a different team, but honestly, on both sides, really, with the Hawks and the Knicks going into this series.

So true. And, you know, 2021 was in the past. What's different about these two teams now? With the Knicks, specifically, you have the addition of Carl Anthony Towns, of Jalen Brunson, of O'Eanobie. You have these players where you can just call them by their nicknames and people know exactly who they are. And that's something that was really missing, right?

And then as far as the Hawks, they've had some real shakeups. Trey Young's no longer on the team. They traded him back in January, I do believe. And in return, they got this veteran, C.J. McCollum, and they have this young kid, Jalen Johnson, who is lights out. Yes. And that is who the Knicks are going to have to really be able to defend. He was on that 20-21 team, but he was a rookie. Oh, yeah.

And now it's his time to shine. You mentioned C.J. McCollum. dangerous guy. Who's the biggest threat for the Nix besides themselves, of course? I think that Jalen Johnson, as I mentioned, is going to be the young one that they're really going to have to get through. If he is the star of that series, the NICs aren't getting past the first round. Yeah. And who do we need to step up for the Knicks? Well, I have to say, both Carly Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson have really linked up the second half the season. There was some panic around December, around January, and something clicked to the point where the last game of this season,

they sat all their starters. So it's working. But you know, I have to say, and people may disagree with this, but when it comes to the playoffs, for me, I think Jalen Brunson takes some time to get warmed up. Well, I would say that during the playoffs, teams know that that's who they have to guard. True. And so then you have to start relying on the bench. And I think in this series also, it's going to be the Hawks looking at Carl Anthony Towns and looking at Jalen Brunson and making sure that they have bodies on those two.

So who else can shoot? Is it going to be O.G. and Anobi from, you know, the corner. But they have a really good bench. Let's talk about it because one of the most exciting players for me is my guy, the backup center, Mitchell Robinson. He's just an exciting player to watch. But who are you expecting to step up off the bench this postseason? So I should mention Mitchell Robinson and Deuce McBride were the only two players on the 2021 Knicks team. Those two are going to really be a big part both defensively and offensively when the team realizes that their star players have bodies on them.

Yeah. Yeah. And when we talk about three pointers, we got to give it up from my guy, Williamsburg's own. You know, Jose's out there. He's doing it. Jose Alvarado, correct. Got traded to the Knicks and people were excited. He went to Christ the King.

Yeah. And he's the kind of player that every team wants in the playoffs because he can come in for short stints. He's not going to play 30 minutes or anything like that. He can come in for short stints and really kind of cause some chaos and, you know, make some plays that the team needs give some of their bigger bodies. The rest they need create some energy for a little bit. And I'm excited to see him in his playoffs. He's a character. Yeah.

And I love his hustle. He's a great player to watch as well. You know, this is Mike Brown's first post. postseason as head coach of the Knicks. What's his success rate in the playoffs? I think this series, it's a must win for him to really cement himself as the answer to what New York needs. Definitely. To be able to become maybe that hot franchise once again.

What was important was he was able to turn around what I think December, January, I don't, everyone was just like, all right, we're done. Same old Knicks. Right? And so he came in, he came into that locker room and decided, what do I? I need to do to create some chemistry. And I, again, back to Jalen and Kat, they linked up and they figured something out. Yeah. Yeah. Grateful for it. Yes. All right. Let's turn to the lady, shall we? So it's been a busy couple weeks for the WMBA and rosters are finally filling up. The draft earlier this week was a really historic one, you know, setting the tone for the 30th year of

the WMBA. I cannot believe it. That is so cool. Before we get to the lives, can you you just talk a bit about some of the big takeaways from this year's draft? Yeah, number one, 30 years is wild. Yeah. Makes me feel like I've been doing this for way too long. It was really exciting to see AZFUD go number one in this draft. Yeah. From Yukon, pretty close to here.

Yeah, we're giving it up for. Granted, now Yukon was expected to win. They did not. UCLA did, and they had a lot of players go in the draft. And I've always thought it's really exciting to go from the tournament then into the draft to see a lot of these players, like where they end up. And I think that AZ going first still says a lot about Yukon. And we'll see what happens next year with that program. Great program over there, but UCLA is definitely on their heels.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, that was a great story because they weren't even, like, no one really picked them to make it that far. Yeah. So it was a phenomenal story. Yeah. And can we also talk about. the fashion at the draft, like, OMG. What was your favorite?

Got to give it up to Flagee Johnson. You know, my girl, LSU, that's my home state. Yeah, looking fab. One of my favorites as well. I think there could be a whole show about, like, dressing for the WMBA draft. Let's do it. I'd watch that in a second. Next year, we'll be on the red carpet or the orange carpet, whatever they decided to do.

Let's do it. Speaking of draft, the New York Liberty walked away with the player, 41st, Pick, right? Manuel Potch, young lady from Australia, 19 years old. She was so surprised that she cried when her agent told her. I was surprised. Because her agent was like, yeah, I don't think that you're going to get drafted, but she did.

And I think what this means for the liberty is that they believe she has a high ceiling to come in as a developmental player. It's a very NBA of them to find someone young and overseas to bring in. And so I think that's kind of what they were thinking because they only had one draft deck. Right, right. Yeah. So we know that Sabrina UNESCO and Brianna Stewart are both expected to stay with the Liberty, just waiting for the John Hancock's on that, right?

Correct. John Quo Jones recently signed her multi-year deal, keeping the big three together, hopefully. But the excitement in my spirit, Priya, when I read that Satu Saboli would be joining the New York Liberty I was so happy. Made my weekend, in fact. Talk about what she brings to this team. A three-time All-Star. She only gets better in the playoffs.

There was a chance that she was going to come last year. She ended up with the Phoenix Mercury and was really tough against a liberty. Yeah. And her sister. And her sister, yes, who unfortunately has left the team. Yeah, she's going over to the Toronto tempo now. Correct. Yes.

Poached by Sandy Rondello. We'll get to that. Yeah, right? Full circle. Right. Everything. Yeah. I think what this indicates is the Liberty are focusing on their star players.

It's no longer about like gritty defense off the bench. They want their star players to really run this team. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a huge signing by the Liberty. And I think it also kind of indicates that it's, it's championship or bust. Okay. Right?

Period. Yeah. And as excited as I would. was to hear this news about Satu Sabli joining the team. Gotta be honest, it made me a little nervous for one of my favorite players, Natasha Cloud. Should I be nervous? How likely is it that Cloud 9 chucks up the deucees and leaves New York City? I think it's either that or take less money.

I think that she's one of the most underrated free agents right now. Yes. For sure. But it just didn't work with the Liberty in the back court for whatever reasons. I think she is a really good player if she can find the perfect system for her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Man, that makes me so sad. She's such an exciting player, brought a different energy to the team. And honestly, just having a jersey that you can buy that reads Cloud 9, it's the coolest thing the Liberty is done. I didn't even think about that. Yes. It's the coolest thing. True. So the Liberty Organization also said thank you and goodbye to a few others.

Who did the team part ways with? Nayara Sopoli, of course, sister, gone. Yeah. That would have been cool. That would have been cool. To play on the same team as your sis? Of course, Izzy, Kennedy Burke. Yeah.

And again, this is all pointing to they want their lineup to have star power. And they paid the money. And it's a lineup that should be scary for any team. Hello. Indiana fever. Beacon to you. Ooh. But it's a lot of money.

We'll see in the preseason. Yeah. Yeah, right? There's a lot on the line. Yeah. And you know, we can't forget about Benigilini Hamilton. So the Liberty right now have contractual rights for negotiating her contract. Okay. There is a chance, like Natasha, not coming back, but Hamilton, there's a good chance. She comes back. But once again, you know, the money's been spent. So, you know, we'll see. She was a big part of the last two seasons, but she is also hampered by injuries. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately. Liberty fans will definitely have some new faces and some new names to cheer for, but we should also remind listeners, Priya, that the team has a new coach this season.

Talk briefly about why Sandy Rondello was let go and who's this new coach, Krista Marco. So Sandy, I think there's two school of thoughts to go from the championship team to being booted in the first round of playoffs, not acceptable. If you're really going to run a franchise in the way that, like, this is the franchise of the WMBA, then again, there was a lot of injuries on the front court. Yeah. Not exactly her fault. But she held on strong and now she has a new job and it should be okay. So now we have Krista Marco. Yeah. Spent 14 years with the Golden State Warriors, assistant to the man, Steve Kerr. And I bring this up because this can go either way. This can go Mike Brown. This can go I'm going to say this name to a lot of Knicks fans, Dave Fisdale.

Dave Fisdale. He was the coach of the Knicks, terrible coach, came from Golden State. Oh, yeah. So this could go any way. This is a real experiment. And he can use Ainuosku the way Curry comes off the three ball, right? Yeah. Great.

And then you can exploit the switchability of Stewart and Sabali and Jones. And they can be these bigs that can play defensively. and also offensively. That's what the Golden State Warriors do. All of it on paper makes sense. Now, when it comes to chemistry and locker room, will this coach succeed? It could go either way. Again, it's the Fisdale versus Brown sort of Knicks experiment.

And yeah, we'll see. It's an interesting concept. He's never been a head coach. Yeah, that's the thing. All right. We'll just wait and see, I guess. That sports reporter, Priya, decide. Thanks a lot, Priya, for joining us.

Thank you. The Knicks Hawk series starts Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Liberty, you'll have to wait a little longer for that season to start. That'll start on May 8th at Barclays Center. How much do you tip? That's a question that's been coming up more and more in popular culture, especially here in New York City, which has one of the largest service industries in the country. Tipping has always been part of the industry, but now it's expected in more places than it used to be.

and the rules of who you're supposed to tip and how much to give them are getting really complicated. WNYC producer Elizabeth Schwait did some digging into what's going on and she joins us now to talk about tipping etiquette in the city. Hey, Elizabeth. Hey, Jeney.

So got to start with ourselves. What's a fair tip to you personally? So personally, I try to tip a dollar or two at cafes if I get a coffee or pastry to go. But if I do sit down at a cafe to talk to friends or work there, I try to tip more like 20, 20%. And then for food delivery, I tip based on weather and distance. Okay. So you have a whole system. Yes. Do you remember that really bad snowstorm?

Yeah. Tip extra there. Exactly. What about you, tonight? I'm an 18 to 20 percent tipper. And, you know, if you're really great, then you get more. Yeah. That's how it is. So I understand that you went out and talked to New Yorkers about tipping habits with people at cafes and bars. what do people you met say a fair tip in 2026 should be? Yeah, so I talked to some people at Motley Kitchen in the Bronx, and that's a cafe that sells coffee and tea. And they also have one of those tablets where suggested tipping comes up right after you tap to pay. And, you know, someone I did meet Thomas Gardia, for him tipping is simple. I always tip 20% regardless of anything wherever I am.

He always tips 20%, and he doesn't feel pressure to tip because he said he would do it anyway. but Ronnie Singh says that those tablets do add a little bit of social pressure when she's with other people. I wouldn't call it peer pressure because it's not a negative pressure, but I would say there is added influence when I'm with people that also tip generously. Definitely. Gregory Morgan, who I also spoke to, says that he has a couple friends that are baristas, so he knows what they go through, and that makes him more inclined to tip.

My personal rules on tipping at cafes is if you're going to go there more than once, you should tip. But he says that the tipping culture can be a little bit abrasive sometimes. I don't really feel pressure to do anything ever because generally I'm going to do what I want to do. But I'll be peeping the tactics. Like they'll just flip the screen or like point to where they want the tip to be. That's like a little rude sometimes. Yeah, I can see how the tablet can feel a little impersonal, right?

Like on one hand, it's nice to be able to tip right there as you're paying. But it feels like the tip tablets are everywhere now. Yeah, that came up quite a bit when I went out to Motley Kitchen. But I talked with someone named Ayanna Williams who told me, she actually likes a tablet for that exact reason because the tipping amounts are right there in front of her. I'm the type of person. Like, my brain is always running. So sometimes I do need it to be like a part of the process to be like, oh, okay, a reminder of like, okay, let's tip. Versus like if they just give me the receipt and leave me the option, I may not do it. Not because I don't want to, but I'm just always

on the go rushing. So yeah, I'm not as encouraged to do it. Did you chat with any service workers? I did. I talked with Declan Carroll, a bartender at McDougal Street Alehouse. And he told me that he thinks tipping should be mandatory at bars. If you give good service, you should be tipped. You know what I mean? What's the appropriate amount to tip, in your opinion? I would say 18 to 20%. Yeah.

If you get proper service, if the service is really good, maybe 25. He says that if he gives people good service and they still decide to tip on the lower end, he thinks they are scumbags. When I go out, I'm a big tipper. It'll be 50% to 75%. You know what I mean? Well, maybe that's the thing, like, we're thinking about the customers and they're thinking about bartenders.

Yeah, because, again, This is New York City. Exactly. And when we're talking about bars, drinks are already expensive. They're already expensive and the taxes are expensive. Going out one drink, it's going to be like $30. Facts. But Jillian Pacheco, she is the manager at Motley Kitchen and she actually had the opposite opinion.

She wants to get rid of tips entirely. I would love to live in a world where, you know, all of our employees, all of us, including managers, including baristas and servers, we all just got paid what we're supposed to get paid a living wage. Yeah, I can see that. You know, Elizabeth, I'm curious. You spoke to a lot of people about how much they tip. Is there anyone who admitted that they don't tip at all? Yeah, surprisingly, yes, Gregory from earlier. He's the one who said you should tip if you're at a place more than once, but he admitted that he didn't tip that day. Sometimes I just forget. Like, I'm going to be honest, like, I just forgot to tip just now. But like, I'm here a lot, so I'll get them on the next time. No judgment, Gregory. No judgment. Steve Gill at McDougal Street Alehouse did admit to me that in the few times he's experienced really bad service, he doesn't tip out of principle. And Kristen Kalmas said that sometimes if she's ordered enough drinks, she'll stop tipping.

When I've ordered probably like five rounds of drinks, and I'm like, okay, I don't have the money to tip enough fifth time. And Declan, again, he's the bartender at McDougal Street Alehouse. And he told me there's quite a number of people who click no tip really quickly on the tablet when they're really busy. they're not looking. Sneaky. Sneaky. Okay, so the numbers I've been hearing range from no tip to a dollar or two to 15 to 20 percent. But what do the experts say?

Is there a definitive right amount to tip? Yeah, I spoke to Michael Lynn. He's a professor at Cornell who has studied tipping culture for 40 years. And he said back in the day, the tipping standard used to be 15 to 20 percent. I still remember when my parents used to tip 15 percent when we went out to rest of it. when I was a kid. But now he said that the standard tipping amount is 18 to 20%. Actually, at one point, people tip 10%. In my lifetime, it was typically 15 to 20. So tip amounts in restaurants have increased over time. But even though tips have increased, he said only

half of customers tip for coffee. And that's most likely because people tip better on bigger bills. And he said it's also true that there is more pressure to tip when there's a tablet in front of you than a tip jar. If I don't put money in a tip jar, that's a sin of omission. But to not leave a tip in a digital age, I have to hit a button that says no tip. And that's an act of commission. And we judge sins of commission worse than sins of omission. So after all you're reporting, Elizabeth, what are your rules for tipping?

Yeah, my rules now are if you can tip at cafes, especially if you're sitting down and are being served, tip 15 to 20%. But if you can't afford to do that at cafes, that's okay. Always tip 18 to 20% at bars, regardless of the service and higher if you get really good service. And a lot of people kept repeating, if you don't plan a tip, don't go out. But not everyone agrees with that. And really, at the end of the day, tipping is really dependent on your own personal finances.

Yeah, that's a tip from WMYC's Elizabeth Shway. Thanks a lot for joining us. Thanks, Jene. And thank you for listening to NYC now. I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.