The New York Knicks seem to be cruising right on through these first few months of the 2025-26 campaign. From owning the Eastern Conference's second-best record of 18-7 to being one win away from winning their first NBA Cup, it's quite evident that new coach Mike Brown has this ball club playing like a well-oiled machine.
Yet, despite all these truths, it's also undeniable that, in order to put themselves in the best position possible to take home their first Larry O'Brien Trophy since 1973, some sort of in-season addition must be made to bolster their rotation up to championship-worthy levels.
Knicks must add 'another dude' to serve as eighth-man in rotation
During a recent episode of the Game Theory Podcast, co-host Bryce Simon highlighted how this Knicks rotation is far too top-heavy to legitimately vie for a title run, saying that "you can't win 16 games with seven dudes in the playoffs."
As things currently stand, New York rolls out a rotation that regularly features 10 players who log double-digit minutes.
Though coach Brown's minutes distribution and usage of his bench are notably improved from the club's last regime run by Tom Thibodeau, outside of their core five of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart, there really aren't all that many players this team can truly rely on at a moment's notice to give them a self-initiated boost.
Be it due to injuries (Miles McBride, Landry Shamet) or underwhelming production from once-perceived crucial roster additions (Guerschon Yabusele), the Knicks are somewhat hard-capped with the number of talents they can turn to.
Because of this, Simon is advocating for them to add "another dude" to their arsenal, and he's far from the only one who believes this.
Just last week, it was reported by Daily Knicks' own Kris Pursiainen that Leon Rose and company have already held exploratory discussions regarding the availability of New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado and former Knicks fan favorite-turned-Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo.
Along with such rumblings, the franchise has also been heavily intertwined in the rapidly spinning trade rumor mill regarding Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, which just recently picked up even more speed following the latest intel drop from NBA insider Marc Stein.
From a secondary ball-handler and offensive orchestrator to more frontcourt depth behind the likes of Towns and Mitchell Robinson, there are a bevy of areas on the rotation the Knicks could look to address between now and February's trade deadline.
To Simon, they absolutely should.