The New York Knicks won the NBA Championship for the first time in 53 years, setting their fans worldwide up for an entire summer of elation. That party lost some of its luster after just four days, though. That's how long it took team governor James Dolan after Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals to declare on WFAN's The Carton Show that it would be "basketball suicide" to enter the 2026-27 regular season over the salary cap's second apron.
The organizational refusal to pass that budgetary limit led directly to the loss of center Mitchell Robinson, previously the team's longest-tenured player, to the Boston Celtics. Ariel Hukporti leaving for the Philadelphia 76ers left the Knicks with just Karl-Anthony Towns at center. While the big man emerged as a superstar-level player throughout New York's championship run, everyone needs some sort of backup.
According to SNY's Ian Begley, the Knicks are reportedly high on the duo of Towns and Andre Drummond to get the job done at center. The "strong degree of confidence internally" in the pairing signals that, even if the front office adds another center ahead of the regular season, they don't plan on Brown having to depend on them very much. Especially as the rest of the league deals with second apron-induced losses of their own, the Knicks seem comfortable betting on their talent to be enough to survive the loss of Robinson.
Knicks have the personnel to live without a third big. Will they use it?
Last season, Mike Brown worked schematically to get Towns away from having to protect the rim as often. The reduction in reliance on traditional center play helped the All-NBA big man impact winning, on both ends of the court, more than ever before.
Drummond could benefit from a similar formula, with Brown counting on the big man's physicality to dissuade drivers and letting wing defenders like Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and even Miles McBride do the rest. Even if the X's and O's work out, though, the 33-year-old big man has missed 61 games over the past two regular seasons. Towns, who tends to get himself in foul trouble, will need more support.
One potential option would be to deploy Anunoby in spurts at the center position, an adjustment both of the team's recent head coaches have made in times of need. Exposing the wing to enough bumping and bruising down low, though, could come with other consequences with regard to his own availability.
The Knicks will have some tough choices to make next season. They know which five players to start and which players coming off of the bench will likely be most important to a win. But as of now, Anunoby is effectively their only answer to a scenario that involves Towns and Drummond dealing with injuries, foul trouble, or both.
How much faith in that duo does Rose really have?
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