By reportedly prioritizing the addition of a guard with their final veteran’s minimum slot in free agency, the New York Knicks are sending a loud, clear, and frankly, less-than-ideal message: Tyler Kolek is either not ready for, or won’t be given an opportunity to win, reserve minutes in the backcourt.
In a recent mailbag for The Athletic, James Edwards III wrote that he is “expecting New York to use its veteran’s minimum spot on the point guard position.” This tracks with what we have heard about the Knicks’ interest in rolling the dice on Ben Simmons, a non-traditional point guard with the size of a forward. It also keeps in theme with the team pretty much revealing that it doesn’t expect any of the youngsters to crack the rotation next season.
This on some level isn’t a surprise. New York is among the NBA’s most serious contenders, and a clear pick by many to win the Eastern Conference. The front office and still-being-fleshed-out coaching staff must prioritize what gives them the best chance of racking up victories before favoring player development.
Yet, adding another guard who usurps Kolek in the pecking order would nevertheless be a bummer. He has been the source of much intrigue among fans and armchair GMs ever since the Knicks bagged him with the 34th overall pick in 2024. Many wanted him to get more reps with the big club when he was a rookie. Getting buried on the bench, again, would not be a death knell for his career trajectory, but it would certainly bring into question whether his future lies in New York.
Tyler Kolek is already bordering on an afterthought in the rotation
Jalen Brunson is going to eat up a lion’s share of the point guard minutes, because, well, he’s Jalen Brunson. That complicates Kolek’s development off-rip because the two probably can’t play together.
Even if they can, this presumes the 24-year-old is the first or second guard off the bench. He won’t be. Deuce McBride (assuming he doesn’t start), and Jordan Clarkson already have those spots in the rotation on lock.
Carving out time for Kolek doesn’t even get much easier if the Knicks use McBride alongside Brunson at the opening tip. Double-big lineups figure to be a staple this coming season, and upsized units in which Mikal Bridges is the de facto 2 aren’t conducive to squeezing both Clarkson and Kolek into the rotation.
Now imagine adding Simmons, Malcolm Brogdon, Monte Morris, or even the return of Landry Shamet or Delon Wright into that equation. That automatically relegates Kolek to 11th-man duty.
Summer league didn’t do Tyler Kolek any favors
Kolek’s most efficient path to semi-regular playing time involves New York going in a different direction with its next veteran signing, or beating out one of Clarkson and McBride in the backcourt hierarchy. Good luck to him with that.
Edging out McBride is a non-starter. His defense is too integral, and he sports the more proven outside touch. The Knicks are more likely to increase his ball-handling reps than back-burner him. Clarkson, meanwhile, didn’t accept the minimum just to compete for minutes. If nothing else, he’s guaranteed to begin the season as one of the team’s top-eight guys.
It’s not like Kolek has made a compelling case for himself during summer league, either. He did bust out some off-the-dribble three-point shooting, but his outside touch is at best a party trick. He only converted 17.1 percent of his treys through five games. Worse, his turnovers became an issue. Though the Knicks’ summer-league spacing and big-man rotation served to inflate the miscues, too many of his forfeited possessions were a byproduct of bad passes.
Growing pains are part and parcel of the NBA’s learning curve. None of this renders Kolek a hopeless cause. But it does leave his role on this year’s team billowing in the wind—with the potential for it to disappear entirely if the Knicks sign yet another veteran guard to usurp him in the rotation.