Landry Shamet has been a revelation for the New York Knicks this year, but there could be some serious defensive issues that pop up in a playoff series. If he’s on the court with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, there will be too many defensive weak points for other teams to pick on.
“I don’t think he can guard… Here’s the reason I don’t trust him,” Sam Vecenie said on a recent edition of the Game Theory podcast. “It’s because teams are already going to be pretty aggressive in hunting the Jalen Brunson-Karl Towns ball screen, right? The problem is, with Shamet, you have another guy out there to hun. Like, I think that if you’re going to have Brunson out there, you really can’t have anybody else out there who you can hunt defensively.”
The Knicks would be getting risky if they put all three of those guys on the court together in the postseason.
What can Knicks do with Landry Shamet?
Shamet’s play this season has been a welcome addition to the Knicks’ rotation. In Mike Brown’s first year as head coach, he’s found a guy who can reliably knock down threes, which is crucial in today’s NBA.
The veteran guard has played legitimate minutes for New York this year, giving them consistent burn as they look to compete for a top spot in the Eastern Conference.
So far this season, Shamet has appeared in 15 games for the Knicks, earning six starts and playing 20.9 minutes per contest—the most he’s played since his 2020-21 campaign with the Brooklyn Nets.
In his 15 games, Shamet has averaged 9.3 points (also the most since that Brooklyn year), a career-high 2.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists. He’s shooting 45.2% from the floor and a career-high 42.4% from deep range on 4.4 three-point attempts per game.
He’s playing the seventh-most minutes on the team for the Knicks this year, ahead of guys like Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, Guerschon Yabusele, and Tyler Kolek.
Nobody expected Shamet to play this big a role heading into the season, yet he’s quickly become one of the most important bench guys on the roster. And that could be worrisome once the postseason comes around.
Shamet hustles and works hard on defense, but teams will inevitably target him. And when teams are already going to be targeting Brunson and picking on Towns on the perimeter, having Shamet on the court at the same time could be an issue.