The New York Knicks have a pair of NBA Championships to defend after claiming both the Cup and the Larry O'Brien. They still don't have a third-string center on the roster, and the free agent options are mostly just as unsigned as last month. They also got some clarity on the contract statuses of their new rookies.
With regard to their depth at center, it seems Leon Rose's front office plans to turn to another training camp battle. It's how they rounded out their roster last season. Mike Brown's talent evaluation served them well, with Landry Shamet proving crucial to their NBA Championship-winning run.
This year, things are shaping up for the Knicks to invite several veteran centers to training camp ahead of the season — and let the best man win the final roster spot.
Point guard
Early projection:Â Jalen Brunson, Jose Alvarado, Tyler Kolek
The Knicks have one of the best players in basketball, full stop, at the point guard spot. Brunson is a leader, a Championship-level 1A, a Finals MVP, and most importantly — an all-time hooper. They're in good hands, whether he's using his left or his right.
Few players would be able to handle the pressure of backing up such an offensively dynamic leader. Nobody has more responsibility within the Knicks' offense than Brunson. Jose Alvarado proved he's the perfect option several times throughout the postseason. He makes it a priority to get Karl-Anthony Towns the ball, and can certainly score it on his own. Even over Victor Wembanyama.
Behind the hometown hero is Tyler Kolek, the incoming third-year point guard who enjoyed some increased offseason stardom as a result of the Knicks' title. New York's team is built on decision-making, which they proved with a full postseason of making the right play. Kolek's ability to read defenses and set his teammates up to score fits right in, and he should thrive next season in whatever opportunities he gets — especially with Towns empowered as a playmaker.
Shooting guard
Early projection:Â Mikal Bridges, Miles McBride, Jordan Clarkson
If Bridges had it his way, the Knicks wouldn't need anyone else besides him on this portion of their depth chart. The wing is as much of a lock to play all 82 games as one could imagine — he has yet to miss a game since his junior year of high school, when illness forced him to the sidelines.
Luckily for the Knicks' iron man, he's got some pretty solid backup behind him. McBride is entering a contract year, and didn't sign an extension by Tuesday's "soft deadline." The young guard's skillset fits perfectly around Brunson, Towns, and the rest of the Knicks' starters — with his ball handling allowing him to slot in for almost any of them — and was a huge part of their regular season success.
Recovering from sports hernia surgery, though, did put a damper on McBride's season. Clarkson was there to pick up the slack. The guard reinvented his game and earned back his spot in Brown's rotation. The rest is Knick history.
Small forward
Early projection: Josh Hart, Landry Shamet, Pacôme Dadiet
While hosting a panel featuring four of the Knicks' title-winning starters at Fanatics Fest, Taylor Rooks said the team wouldn't have been able to win without Hart. Even an NBA Championship wasn't enough to save Hart from what came next — Brunson taking a moment to affirm that the Knicks could, in fact, have won those games without him.
Hart responded by leaning into the joke, citing his missed layup late in Game 4 as an intentional set-up for the OG Anunoby tip-in heard around the world. It's part of what makes the Swiss Army knife an irreplaceable bonding force in the locker room — and so special as a personality overall.
Speaking of locker room relationships, there's likely nobody on the Knicks' roster happier about Shamet's extension than Bridges. The two are friends, going back to their days on the Phoenix Suns, and the starting wing advocate for his own reserve through the press in 2025.
Brown, however, may take the cake overall. The coach said early last season that he'd pay Shamet's salary himself if it kept the sharpshooting veteran on the Knicks' roster through shoulder rehabilitation.
Dadiet brings an intriguing blend of size and skill to the table, but has plenty of room to grow. Brown should not shy away from testing him on the court during the 2027 regular season, especially if reports about the Knicks' organizational faith in Dadiet as a prospect are true. Everything about Dadiet's process seems to be to New York's liking. It's time for the results to follow.
Power forward
Early projection:Â OG Anunoby, Mohamed Diawara
It feels wrong to call Anunoby a power forward, but Hart wants as little to do with the designation as possible. Daily Knicks will acquiesce. And the Knicks' wing is more than capable of guarding bigger players.
As a result, New York doesn't need to worry as much about who's literally playing each traditional position. They just need their lineups to check the right boxes. Hart's positional versatility does a great deal of work in that regard, as does Anunoby's defense.
Diawara, the rookie, will help too. His confidence on both ends of the court showed last season, as Brown trusted him to eat innings throughout the regular season. He didn't make the cut in the playoffs, but very well could in 2027.
The Knicks may seem a bit thin at this position. The reality is that with Brunson, Bridges, Hart, Anunoby, and Towns starting — and none of them being traditional power forwards — New York is naturally going to have a "weakness." The not-so-secret secret is that they rode that weakness all the way to a Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
Center
Early projection:Â Karl-Anthony Towns, Andre Drummond
Almost a month and a half after Mitchell Robinson's departure for the Boston Celtics, the Knicks are still the weakest under the rim. The team's lack of a traditional rim protector, though, doesn't project as dire.
After all, Brown and Towns just spent an entire postseason proving more than capable of solving that issue — thanks to some help from Bridges, Anunoby, and the rest of the gang. The center spent the postseason living up to his potential, wreaking havoc on opposing defenses in several roles and anchoring the Knicks' playoff-best defensive efforts.
In the eyes of voters, Towns didn't earn All-NBA honors last season. There's a better chance that he was one of the 10 best players in the league than there is that those voters were correct. The center proved as much throughout the postseason with his top-of-the-key playmaking and pivotal contributions on defense.
Now, he'll have Drummond backing him up. The 33-year-old is known most for his ability to rebound the basketball, giving the team some level of continuity with regard to Robinson's skillset. The Knicks will need to mitigate his shortcomings on defense — and as a finisher around the rim.
New York also needs another player at this position. Towns might get some help with his propensity to commit offensive fouls in the form of playmaking reps from the top of the key. That doesn't mean that Drummond is enough behind him. At this point, a training camp battle between veterans looking to serve as the Knicks' third-stringer seems inevitable.
Rose's front office tabbed Alex Len for a similar situation last summer. The center didn't land an NBA deal anywhere, playing out the season for Real Madrid. 28-year-old Kentucky product Nick Richards is still a free agent. He's probably waiting for an opportunity better than third-stringer to slide across his desk. 37-year-old Kevin Love might be, too.
Bismack Biyombo, who last played for the Spurs, just wrapped up the 15th season of his own NBA career. He's a free agent as well. New York will have plenty of options when it comes to their training camp invites. The challenge for Rose, and then Brown, will be to come out with one worth their time.
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