It is flying under the radar amid the rest of the NBA offseason, but the New York Knicks have already unveiled next year’s starting lineup. And these plans do not include Josh Hart.
But they do include Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
No official announcement has been made. Because, well, duh. Training camp is months away. Summer league is coming. New York’s salary-cap guru, Brock Aller, is busy crunching numbers, figuring out how to pave the way for another veteran minimum’s contract slot. (In other news: He figured it out, thanks to Guerschon Yabusele.)
The Knicks also have a handful of extension situations to hash out. Towns, Robinson, and Mikal Bridges are eligible for new deals. Significant headaches could arise, in particular, if Bridges ends up not signing one. Oh, and in case you didn’t hear, they hired Mike Brown to replace Tom Thibodeau, and to revitalize their offense.
Amid all the other business, though, New York has subtly revealed who will be opening games next season. And it’s a lineup fans started clamoring for long ago.
Guerschon Yabusele signing confirms Knicks’ new starting five
This under-the-radar disclosure comes courtesy of SNY’s Ian Begley. As he wrote following Yaubsele’s arrival: “The Knicks value Yabusele’s versatility off the bench, particularly behind a starting lineup featuring Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.”
Begley is as plugged into The Orange and Blue as anyone. If he’s saying something, it should raise your eyebrows. He goes on to note the Knicks’ head coach, who was not confirmed at the time, will “ultimately decide” who gets starting nods.
But the indicators have kept coming. According to Begley, New York also “did some background work" on Deandre Ayton. He has since signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, but certain “decision-makers viewed Ayton as a good fit next to” Towns.
Though this falls short of a concrete declaration, it’s the next best thing. The Knicks would not be framing additions and targets in this way if they didn’t believe KAT play alongside another big. Their starting lineup to open the 2025-26 season will be Towns, Robinson, Bridges, Jalen Brunson, and OG Anunoby until they say otherwise.
The Knicks’ new starting five has shown promise, but has a lot to prove
Most fans will be happy about this pivot. It doesn’t invite five-out spacing, but the same can be said about the version with Hart. New York can get to five-out looks with other lineup combinations.
Whether the Towns-Robinson frontcourt becomes a mainstay is debatable. Thibodeau closed the year leaning on it, but the pairing played just 67 minutes across both the regular season and playoffs alongside Brunson, Bridges, and Anunoby. The Knicks were outscored by a total of one point during that quintet’s time on the floor, which is neither inspiring nor hopeless.
It will be interesting to see how the offense sustains with this fivesome logging more minutes. They averaged nearly 120 points per 100 possessions together through their small sampling, while drilling 56 percent of their twos, and grabbing a whopping 42.9 percent of their own misses. But the three-point accuracy was relatively poor (33.3 percent), and the overall shot quality wasn’t great. Opponents also feasted on three-pointers (43.6 percent) and long mid-rangers (55.6 percent) at the other end, though they struggled to reach and score at the rim (53.3 percent conversion rate).
Additional reps will tell whether the KAT-and-Mitch look is the right one. But for now at least, it’s the one to which the Knicks will default.