The New York Knicks made a pair of draft selections after winning the 2026 NBA Championship, adding Jack Kayil and Tyler Nickel to their roster. Kayil, a German point guard, quickly became a draft-and-stash pick. He signed a new contract with his club overseas this offseason, allowing him to continue his development abroad as opposed to contributing to a positional clog in New York.
Nickel, a sharpshooter out of Vanderbilt, remains unsigned over two months into the offseason. The Knicks have been playing things slowly; it may have given them the strongest case to sign Igor Milicic Jr. to an Exhibit-10 contract ahead of training camp.
Whether Nickel ends up on a standard contract or one of New York’s three available two-way spots, though, Knicks head coach Mike Brown already has the perfect blueprint to follow with regard to his involvement throughout his rookie year. Brown won’t have to think very hard to remember how he developed and deployed incoming sophomore wing Mohamed Diawara just last season, in the midst of an eventual championship run.
The coach will obviously be hoping that none of his regular rotational players have to miss any time. However, the unfortunate reality of professional sports is that, at some point, an opportunity might just arise. Nickel will just have to seize it — if he gets the chance.
Brown should let Nickel sink or swim, like Diawara, if he has the chance
The Knicks came into the 2025-26 regular season looking to stop a 53-year championship drought from growing even larger. The margin for error was incredibly thin, especially given how far the team had gotten, under a different coach, just the year before.
The team is certainly looking to defend that throne in the 2026-27 season. Their long-lasting shift as one of the league's 29 annual hunters is over. At least for next year, they're the hunted. But it's hard to ignore that last year's win lifted a considerable amount of pressure off of the group.
Reclaiming home-court advantage next season is going to be a key part of those title defense efforts. The Knicks had that edge throughout the entirety of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, and it worked to their advantage when it came to rest and travel. It's also worth considering that the new Draft Lottery rules seem to have successfully reduced teams' interest in tanking.
However, there are always going to be "punt" games in packed parts of the schedule — whether from Knick opponents or the reigning champions themselves. That, and the unfortunate potential of regular members of the rotation suffering injuries, should present Brown with some chances to give the rookie a try. His skillset is certainly complementary with regard to the team's superstar players in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.
He's certainly the kind of coach that's willing to give anyone a chance. He wants as much information as possible before making big decisions. Seeing what Nickel can do on the court could be part of that process.
Nickel's season will likely come to same bittersweet end as Diawara's
There's no binding obligation to play the Vanderbilt sharpshooter in the postseason. Diawara was removed from the rotation near the end of the regular season.
If Nickel does get some chances to play as a rookie, Brown will likely be removing him around the same time of year — or even earlier. That's simply part of being drafted to a championship-winning team, though.
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