Running more of the offense through Karl-Anthony Towns has given the New York Knicks another entry point for their half-court attack. It has not streamlined Jalen Brunson’s workload nearly enough.
Playing him alongside Tyler Kolek might.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ playmaking isn’t lightening Jalen Brunson’s workload
Though a larger share of Brunson’s field goals are coming off assists than last season, more of his made three-pointers are going unassisted (56 percent) compared to 2025-26 (44.1 percent). The captain is also spending even more time on the ball. Around 59.5 percent of his court time is spent with the ball in his hands. That’s up from 45.7 percent last year.
The blip is to some extent by design. Towns is most heavily featured when Brunson is off the court, so the reigning Finals MVP doesn’t reap the same benefits as everyone else. At the same time, he’s not getting dimed up left and right during their joint minutes, either.
Roughly half of Brunson’s made threes come off assists without Towns on the floor. That share drops to 40 percent when the two play together.
This doesn’t make a ton of sense at face value. Towns is second on the Knicks in touches, and first in frontcourt touches by a wider margin than last year. That should culminate in more less-strenuous scoring opportunities for everyone, including Brunson.
Or so you’d think.
Towns’ brand of playmaking isn’t necessarily conducive to creating synergy with Brunson. The duo isn’t running inverted pick-and-rolls. Towns initiates the offense from the higher post and outward, oftentimes at a standstill. That positions him to find cutters and off-screen motion shooters.
Even though Brunson will move without the ball, he’s far from the higher volume cutter or off-screen flamethrower. The Knicks also don’t have him camping out in the corner, where Towns could find him out of drives. While this isn’t what you’d call functional friction, it’s among the forces consigning Brunson to a still-largely-do-it-yourself workload.
Tyler Kolek can give Jalen Brunson more in-game breaks
Playing Brunson alongside another playmaker with better live-dribble passing chops would do more to diversify his usage. Enter Tyler Kolek.
The third-year guard is no longer basically turnover-free, but he’s earned enough of Mike Brown’s trust to reemerge as a rotation staple. And yet, Kolek and Brunson have racked up just six minutes of court time together all season. Every single second of it came in the same game.
Last year’s sample with the two also wasn’t especially large, clocking in at 122 minutes. But the concept of playing them together carries real weight.
Right off the bat, Kolek is someone more than capable of bringing the ball up the floor. That spares Brunson the burden of facing as much full-court pressure. Kolek is also more likely to spray out to shooters while on the move. He has 13 assists off drives this season. Towns has only four.
Tying more of Kolek’s minutes to Brunson would cap the time he can spend next to KAT—a bummer given those two have proven to be a nifty duo. This would invariably ratchet up the minutes New York plays without both Brunson and Kolek as well. That puts their full-floor ball-handling at a deficit.
So be it.
The Knicks have already shown they’re willing to experiment at the cost of cohesion and effectiveness. This is no different. And when the prospective reward is a version of Brunson who doesn’t have to suffer as much regular season wear and tear, any risk involved is well worth it.
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