The final stretch of the season is here. The New York Knicks are the No. 4 team in the Eastern Conference, even after a rough skid before the All-Star break. The Knicks will certainly have a hand in how the rest of the season plays out, but they'll need some luck, too.
New York was unstoppable in January after trading for OG Anunoby. Well, unstoppable until Jan. 27 when Julius Randle dislocated his shoulder. Anunoby's been out since then as well. He underwent surgery to remove a loose bone fragment from his shoulder. When you couple those two injuries with the one that Mitchell Robinson sustained in December, you'd think the future should look bleak for the Knicks.
Instead, it's the opposite. Jalen Brunson is still Jalen Brunson. Donte DiVincenzo is having the best year of his career, so much so that New York felt comfortable trading Quentin Grimes. Isaiah Hartenstein has made sure the Knicks haven't missed a beat in Robinson's absence. Precious Achiuwa has looked far more than a "throw-in" in the Anunoby deal.
There's no way of knowing exactly what this Knicks team will look like in a few weeks, much less when it comes to the playoffs.
Bleacher Report's staff came up with a "biggest question" for every NBA team down the stretch. It's no surprise that for New York, the question regarded the team's health.
A healthy Knicks squad could be the biggest Eastern Conference playoff threat
If the Knicks enter the postseason healthy (and stay that way), there's a real chance they could make it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. The fact that New York is in that position is because of what Leon Rose has built.
A trade wouldn't happen until the offseason at the earliest, but the Knicks still have their treasure chest of assets to go after a superstar. Look at the position New York has put itself in without having that superstar on its roster. It turns out that having two stars on the roster is good enough.
It's still way too soon to determine who may or may not be available for the Knicks to go after. A lot of questions will be answered in the postseason, and not just for New York. First things first, the Knicks need to make it through the rest of the season and, hopefully, will get to do so with their roster at full strength.