After 53 long and painful years, the New York Knicks ended their championship drought last season. However, with one proverbial monkey off their back, a new one awaits.
Now that the Knicks have gone from aspiring champs to the defending ones, they are going to get everyone's best shot -- especially with the league's new draft reform that is designed to limit tanking.
Are the Knicks up for this challenge?
Projected Knicks starting lineup and rotation as they prepare for their title defense
STARTER | POSITION | BENCH |
|---|---|---|
Jalen Brunson | PG | Jose Alvarado |
Mikal Bridges | SG | Miles McBride |
Josh Hart | SF | Landry Shamet |
OG Anunoby | PF | Mohamed Diawara |
Karl-Anthony Towns | C | Andre Drummond |
Projecting this starting lineup may be the easiest task I have had to do during my time at FanSided, as the Knicks are returning all five guys from their bulldozing championship starting five (Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns).
In fact, 11 of the team's top 13 players in total minutes played are back in uniform this go-around -- leaving their nightly rotation largely the same. Their triumvirant of jitterbug guards will soak up a ton of the minutes Brunson/Brdiges/Hart are off the floor (Jose Alvarado, Miles McBride, and Landry Shamet). He's not listed on there, but also expect Jordan Clarkson to factor into the mix, albiet less consistently than those other three gentleman.
The two players from their top 13 who will not be back are Mitchell Robinson (the team's best offensive rebounder and backup big man) and Ariel Hukporti (his backup). To replace these guys, the Knicks brought in veteran journeyman Andre Drummond in free agency. He will be the team's first big off the bench. The other forward/center who got any real tick for the Knicks during the postseason was Mohamed Diawara -- who the Knicks selected in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft -- so we'll pencil him in as the backup forward for now.
With this said, the back of the Knicks rotation is kind of tricky to project right now. Over the last couple of weeks, the team has signed Bruce Brown, John Konchar, Ochai Agbaji, Drew Eubanks, and James Wiseman to training camp deals. This is the same thing they did with Shamet last year, and he ended up really factoring into the team's rotation when it mattered most. All of these guys are productive, yet flawed players, who have been around the block. It'll be interesting to see how they look. Also, don't forget Tyler Kolek -- a southpaw with some serious pick-and-roll chops -- is still on the roster.
Are the Knicks good enough to compete in the East?
Duh. The Knicks are the defending champions, and they are returning their entire starting five and almost all of their key bench players. Yes, the Eastern Conference is way better, but of course this group can still compete.
The real question is: how much of the dominance that we saw last season is real? After falling behind 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks went on an absolute tear -- winning 15 of their final 16 en route to the Larry O'Brein Trophy. During this stretch, the team displayed perfect harmony on the offensive side of the ball, while also being five puppets on the same string on defense.
Was this just an instance of a team temporarily catching lightning in the bottle? Or did the Knicks solve basketball once and for all? I'm not sure, but I'll tell you what -- I can't wait to find out.
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