Jordan Clarkson is enjoying a renaissance with the New York Knicks. After getting fazed out of the rotation beyond stop-and-start usage, he has played in seven consecutive games for the first time since January. If the latest Deuce McBride injury update is any indication, though, his streak of appearances won’t last much longer.
Ahead of the Knicks’ win over the Indiana Pacers, Mike Brown revealed that the 25-year-old guard—who has not played since January 27 and is currently recovering from sports-hernia surgery—is “doing on-court work, taking contact and progressing well. As SNY’s Ian Begley adds, there is “no reason at this point to think McBride won't be fully ready for the postseason.”
Mike Brown said Miles McBride has progressed to taking contact in his rehab from sports hernia surgery. The Knicks say McBride is doing on-court work, taking contact and progressing well. No reason at this point to think McBride won't be fully ready for the postseason.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) March 17, 2026
The reference to “postseason” makes McBride’s return seem further away than it’s actually bound to be. Just 12 games remain on the Knicks’ schedule before the start of the playoffs. That spans less than a month. They will presumably want McBride to get some reps under his belt before the stakes increase.
If he’s taking contact now, there’s a real chance he could return prior to the start of April. And once he does, Clarkson looms as the odd man out.
Deuce McBride is going to take Jordan Clarkson’s minutes…and then some
Though Clarkson is playing well since rejoining the rotation, he has no chance of fending off McBride in the pecking order. The latter’s value has only increased since he went under the knife. Nobody else on New York’s roster brings his blend of outside shot-making and defense. (Landry Shamet comes close.)
Even if McBride begins on a minutes cap, incorporating Clarkson will be next to impossible when looking at the rest of the rotation. Between Shamet, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges with the starters, and Jose Alvarado, the backcourt reps are entirely spoken for upon reintegrating Deuce.
Sure, Mike Brown can scrape together regular burn for Clarkson if he favors three-guard lineups that don’t feature Shamet. But that runs counter to the Knicks’ defensive rise. Come playoff time, he could just as easily go the opposite direction, and roll out more of the Mitchell Robinson-Karl-Anthony Towns frontcourt.
This doesn’t even factor in the potential for a shortened rotation once the playoffs begin. While Brown is keen to lean on his depth now, dropping down to eight players can be standard postseason fare, at which point Shamet and/or Alvarado could see their minutes slashed.
The Knicks don’t have to worry about Jordan Clarkson
This eventuality is a bummer for Clarkson, who has played well since re-entering the fold. Over his last seven games, he’s canning 43.8 percent of his triples (7-of-16), while also downing a whopping 62.2 percent of his triples.
With the offense showing signs of another later-season crack, Clarkson’s added layer of ball-handling and creation, on top of his ability not to lose rhythm while being buried in the depth chart, has been a welcomed mainstay—if not outright essential.
Once McBride returns, assuming the Knicks stay at full strength, there will be games in which he’s needed again. Another Alvarado cold streak could even open the door for some higher-leverage minutes. But these will be moments, not normals—small, inconsistent pockets of time with little chance of becoming anything more absent disaster.
Fortunately for the Knicks, Clarkson was the consummate pro while collecting dust. They don’t have to worry about him checking out. Equally important, given what he’s doing right now, they don’t have to worry about his capacity to return and find ways to contribute on a whim, either.