New York Knicks: Five Christmas gifts fans have received in 2018-19

1. A bright future

Each early gift for New York Knicks fans provides something positive, but a bright future has the longest impact of them all.

Embracing this developmental season has allowed this young roster to flash its potential. Whether acquired via the draft, free agency or trade, they have delivered in spurts to showcase long, lasting ability with this organization beyond 2018-19.

Frank Ntilikina and Damyean Dotson both went through rough patches. They were stuck at the end of the bench, without playing time for multiple games (two stints for Dotson).

Upon return to the rotation for both, they broke out of their respective slumps with awe-inspiring games, featuring Ntilikina’s 18 points in 11 minutes in his second night back.

Ntilikina is just 20 years and Dotson is 24, so their NBA careers are just getting started. Anything they showed this season was only a glimpse of what they will be, and that’s intriguing for Knicks fans to follow.

There’s the 2018 draft picks, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson. With their length and athleticism, both have showcased their potential as starting-caliber players and maybe more.

From Knox’s 26-point, 15-rebound game to Robinson’s nine-block performance, they both look like pieces that will impact the future for at least the remainder of their contracts (three years each).

Allonzo Trier provided the biggest surprise of all, however, after signing a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent. With arguably more consistent play than those four players, he owns a line of 11.7 points per game on 47.0 percent shooting and 39.1 percent on three-pointers. He’s a candidate to make one of the NBA’s All-Rookie teams.

These pieces all have contracts that extend through 2019-20. Whether they make it to that point remains to be seen, but, for now, they hold a stake in the New York Knicks’ future, and that’s as promising of a gift as fans can receive this holiday season.