The New York Knicks‘ 2021 offseason has proven to be quite strange. With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that New York was never supposed to be in its current position. The franchise undoubtedly hoped the acquisition of leaders like Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau would bring stability to a club that had become the league’s laughing stock.
Fast forward a few short months, and the Knicks had not only earned home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They also proved to the world that winning basketball was back in Madison Square Garden.
The New York Knicks 2021 offseason
This was an amazing revelation for faithful Knicks fans. However, it put the team in an awkward spot entering free agency. A franchise that was expected to be in full rebuild mode for the next few seasons now found themselves seeking talent to bolder their playoff roster. Pivoting this quickly would be difficult for even the best-run franchises.
New York’s offseason began slowly. Which should have been expected. The team bright back several depth pieces who played critical roles for the team during their breakout campaign. Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Taj Gibson, and Alec Burks all returned to bring stability to the roster.
The first notable domino fell when New York inked veteran scorer Evan Fournier to a contract. The Frenchman concluded the 2020-2021 season with career-low numbers before breaking onto the scene for his national club during the recent Olympic games. While there are multiple reasons to be excited about this addition, its move hardly moved the needle on the national scale.
Then, the news hit. A multi-time All-Star was headed to NYC. Former Hornet and Celtics star Kemba Walker was headed to the Knicks. What should New York expect from the NY native and College National Champion? Let’s discuss: