The New York Knicks' depth chart isn't all that different from the one that helped them win the 2026 NBA Championship. The second apron forced Leon Rose's front office to say goodbye to Mitchell Robinson, who they watched ship up to the Boston Celtics in a heartbreaking free agency twist.
The Knicks' offseason thus far has involved keeping the vast majority of their free agents, and drafting two impressive rookies in the second round. New York has just one regular roster spot left, though, on top of all three of their two-way slots. And they have a key positional need to fill ahead of the regular season.
They can use training camp to figure out what their answer to that question will be, but certainly need to find one by the end of it. At the risk of putting players into boxes unnecessarily, this depth chart will split Knicks by the traditional positions they play best within Mike Brown's title-winning system. One position room at a time, the answer to just how much the second apron hurt the Knicks' depth will reveal itself.
Point guard
Early projection: Jalen Brunson, Jose Alvarado, Tyler Kolek
As a fan, coach, executive, or even just a casual — what more could you want? The Knicks' group of point guards comprises one heck of a way to start off a depth chart, with the reigning Finals MVP, the hometown hero of Games 1 and 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, and a promising young table-setter that's consistently risen to the occasion in big games.
Knick fans no longer have to fight battles online about whether or not Brunson is one of the best point guards in the league. The results speak for themselves: he's one of the best players in the league.
Josh Hart said at Fanatics Fest that the Knicks are in a great spot if they can keep games close, because Brunson can take them home in the last two minutes. It's not a dream, either, because his 2026 NBA Finals MVP award is very, very real.
Josh Hart says the Knicks are in a great position if they’re in a close game, because they can just get the ball to Jalen Brunson.
— Kris Pursiainen (@krispursiainen) July 18, 2026
“He’s going to make the right play. That play might not be making a shot.”
Brunson: “Thank you for being mature.”
After trading for Alvarado at last year's deadline, New York reached an agreement with the scrappy Brooklynite this offseason to keep him around for the next several seasons. James L. Edwards III of The Athletic reported that the deal had a partial guarantee of $2.7 million in its third season, giving the Knicks some degree of flexibility once the 2028 offseason rolls around.
In competitive games late in the season, the Knicks should be hoping to not have to rely on Kolek at all. It would mean that one of the two point guards ahead of him had sustained some form of injury, given how difficult it became for Brown to continue involving Kolek in the regular season rotation after the acquisition of Alvarado.
The reality of the NBA, or any professional sport, though, is that injuries happen. For as long as he's around, Kolek represents the Knicks' backup plan in those situations. Brown started last season with the young guard in the rotation, giving him a real shot to stick.
While his impact was limited to smaller stints throughout the rest of the year, he consistently came up big. The NBA Cup Championship against the Spurs, Christmas Day against the Cavaliers, and the game against the Lakers in early February belong at the top of his résumé. And they're all the proof any team should need, whether it's the Knicks or not, that Kolek can make plays in high-leverage moments.
Shooting guard
Early projection: Mikal Bridges, Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson
The Knicks objectively have great depth at this spot. It feels safe to project Bridges to play in all 82 games, one way or another. The two-way wing had an indelible impact on the Knicks' Championship run, locking up opposing star ball handlers and draining momentum-swinging 3-pointers with what looked like ease.
Especially because of the small pay-cut he took when he signed his extension, fans (and Brown) can be thankful that he's set in orange and blue for years to come. As Leon Rose said on The Roommates Show, Bridges himself had nothing to do with the five first-round pick valuation. That was simply how much Rose was willing to give up to get him on the Knicks' roster, which may have put an unfair amount of pressure on the lockdown defender.
Bridges thrived in the face of it all, helping the Knicks get past the Boston Celtics in 2025 and all the way to a Championship in 2026. The Brooklyn Nets can have another first-round pick, for all they care.
The departure of Robinson makes McBride the lone homegrown player in the Knicks' regular rotation. While his 2026 postseason wasn't necessarily eventful, he was coming back from sports hernia surgery that derailed his season relatively late in the year.
His two-way play — his 3-point shooting, on-ball defense, and screen navigation — are going to be hard for New York to replace if they're unable to extend him. They'll be impossible to replace at the current amount they're paying McBride, which was never going to be an option for his next deal. His contract expires after this season, making an extension a priority.
The reinvention of Clarkson's game is one of the best stories of the Knicks' title run, regardless of basketball. The guard legitimately holds all-time records as a bench scorer, with few in NBA history having dropped in more buckets than him without starting the night on the court. His journey to becoming a steady offensive-rebounding, on-ball pressuring, and pick-and-roll ball handling veteran hand was unlikely, but so were plenty of other aspects of New York's NBA Championship.
Small forward
Early projection: Josh Hart, Landry Shamet, Pacôme Dadiet
The positionless do-it-all Swiss Army knife had to go somewhere — so Hart goes here. Brunson's pay-cut draws the most attention, and for good reason, with Bridges' coming up next. But Hart opting into his player option, instead of opting out as expected, afforded the Knicks the room to sign Donte DiVincenzo. While the fourth "Nova Knick" isn't on the roster anymore, he was instrumental to landing Karl-Anthony Towns from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Hart was key to that title too, though, not just because he helped clear the way for Towns. Plenty of scribes, including this one, suggested at various points throughout the last several seasons that the Knicks consider someone else in the starting lineup — that Hart wasn't bad in his role, but the team would be better off if he played a smaller one.
The Knicks, and their wily wing(?), proved that wrong all the way to the 2026 NBA Championship. And after initially taking it roughly, Hart will now be the first to joke about his missed layup in Game 4 putting OG Anunoby in position, figuratively, to produce one of the greatest moments in New York sports history.
Shamet, particularly in the Eastern Conference Finals, was also integral to the Knicks' run. Brown praised him effusively throughout the regular season, and he rewarded his coach's faith in the playoffs. The wing's four-year, $24 million deal is more than friendly to his team. And he'll be important to their high-motor efforts for however much of that deal he spends in New York.
Dadiet's 2026 NBA Summer League went interestingly, with the wing clearly knowing the way to Mike Brown's heart (cutting, defending, taking open 3-pointers) but failing to make the most of various opportunities. If he's still on the roster at the start of the season, the Knicks should try and find him some spot minutes in the case of any injuries. Hart can be shifted to pretty much any other position to help make this happen.
Power forward
Early projection: OG Anunoby, Mohamed Diawara
Towns anchored the Knicks' defense throughout the postseason, which graded out as the best of any participating teams. It makes sense, particularly because the team won the whole thing, but especially because it looked like they were shutting opponents down on film.
If Towns is truly the poor defender that fans and pundits consider him to be, Anunoby could be the league's most underrated player. How else could a team starting Brunson and Towns have such a good defense? Anunoby is unequivocally one of the NBA's 30 best players, and he's arguably even better than that. Any team starting him is in a great spot.
The Knicks are in a better one, starting him in between Brunson and Towns. Regardless of who deserves the credit (the answer is all of them), the results still speak for themselves. Champs.
That's what makes keeping Diawara around on a four-year contract at minimal risk to the Knicks especially interesting. The young wing clearly values the basketball environment they have as a place for him to develop his game. While he didn't make Brown's playoff rotation, and had a rough Summer League end early due to injury, that's the beauty of coming up on the Knicks. There's plenty of other talent to help fill those gaps.
Don't tell Josh Hart — but he's an option here, too. As much as the versatile basketball player might dislike shouldering the duties of a big man, he's certainly capable of it. And that's led him to plenty of situations in which he finds himself setting more screens than he navigates as a ball handler.
Center
Early projection: Karl-Anthony Towns, Andre Drummond
The Knicks are definitely going to need more help at the center position. It's true that Towns just emerged as having the two-way potential to grow into one of the NBA's 10 best players. But he also just led the entire NBA in offensive fouls for the third straight season.
KAT's play throughout the postseason, from growing into a control tower against the Atlanta Hawks to dominating Victor Wembanyama physically in the NBA Finals, indicates that he's reached a new level of maturity and skill. Old habits die hard, though, and the data backs up that Towns will find himself in foul trouble throughout the regular season.
Drummond is one option that Brown can turn to in those scenarios, but the Knicks need more. It doesn't matter how good Towns is, or how good Drummond can be with New York's perimeter defenders mitigating his shortcomings on that end of the court. New York tried adding Dallas Mavericks center Moussa Cissé, but had their offer sheet matched.
Ariel Hukporti wasn't a world-beater, but he was a serviceable innings-eater throughout a regular season that required the Knicks to have several bodies available. Trey Jemison III even got some run during the year — proof that the Knicks will need to pick their two-way players carefully, too. The second apron squeezed Robinson off of the roster. The Knicks have time. But they'll have to prove that they can overcome that loss, whether they planned on it — or not.
New York objectively has most of a Championship-winning rotation, and some interesting young talent in the coffers. They'll presumably send Jack Kayil overseas this season to play with Mega Basket, as they're unable to give him a two-way contract. And they'll likely sign Nickel to one of their two-way spots, along with some kind of big man and whoever else piques the front office's intrigue.
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