The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We’re breaking down the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy outlooks for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
NEW YORK KNICKS
2023-24 finish
Offseason moves
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Additions: Karl-Anthony Towns (unofficially!), Mikal Bridges, Cameron Payne, Pacôme Dadiet, Tyler Kolek, Kevin McCullar Jr., Ariel Hukporti, Landry Shamet, the draft rights to James Nnaji
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Subtractions: Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr., Duane Washington (again: unofficially!), Isaiah Hartenstein, Bojan Bogdanović, Alec Burks, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite
The Big Question: Will it all be worth it?
After a ton of injuries and a hail of Indiana jumpers combined to stop them short of the Eastern Conference finals, the Knicks’ front office spent big to maintain their momentum. A half-decade’s worth of first-round picks for Bridges. Five years and $212.5 million for OG Anunoby. Another $156.5 million for Jalen Brunson.
(OK, so that last one was actually the mother of all sweetheart deals.)
It all had the Knicks looking poised to enter the season with one of the NBA’s best and deepest rotations — a team that, once Randle and center Mitchell Robinson returned from surgeries, had a chance to exceed last year’s limits.
“Obviously, you would’ve liked to have seen that one more time and just get a feel for that, fully healthy,” swingman Josh Hart said Monday at media day.
Team president Leon Rose had other plans.
“You know, you’re never content,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You always want to try to improve. And when opportunities present themselves, and you feel like it can improve the team, you want to try to take advantage of that.”
Rose took advantage, punctuating New York’s offseason with a thunderbolt. Out goes Randle, who averaged nearly 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game across five seasons as a Knick, earning All-Star and All-NBA nods as the bully who helped bring the bright lights back to Broadway. Out goes ’Nova Knick DiVincenzo, who last season became the fifth player in NBA history to make more than 250 3-pointers and snag a steal on at least 2% of opponents’ offensive possessions. (The other four: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Paul George and the god George McCloud.)
And in comes Towns — a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection who’s about to become the fourth 7-footer ever to make 1,000 career triples; who’s fresh off a run in which he (partially) redeemed his postseason reputation by successfully guarding Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokić in series victories (before struggling in the Western Conference finals); and who, as an ostensible replacement for Randle and Hartenstein, promises to dramatically change the shape of the franchise.
Jalen Brunson, all 6-foot-2 of him, finished 12th in the NBA in points in the paint last season, despite playing almost exclusively with elbows-and-in centers. Going from indoor cats to outdoor KAT — a quick-trigger sniper adept at removing opposing centers from the paint — should widen Brunson’s pathways to paydirt. Surrounding that pairing with Anunoby and Bridges — central-casting All-Defensive wings who have shot 41% and 39%, respectively, on catch-and-shoot 3s over the past four seasons — puts lethal complementary targets all over the court.
Sprinkle in Hart — who, as he noted at media day, has “shown in the league I can do a little bit of everything” — and the Knicks have the makings of a starting five that could rank among the league’s best. Add in fourth-year guard Miles McBride, an ace point-of-attack defender who just shot 41% from deep, and a healthy Robinson and Precious Achiuwa up front, and that’s an eight-man rotation equipped to go toe-to-toe with the best of the best — especially if the offseason moves can even further unleash Brunson.
“The most important thing, when it goes into summer, is just: Where’s my mindset at? Where am I?” Brunson said Monday. “And I know where I’m at. And I like where I’m at.”
The key: getting to those marquee matchups in one piece. Towns and Anunoby have missed a combined 213 regular-season games over the past four years. Robinson has missed 81 games in the last two, and won’t be ready for at least a couple of months.
Sure, Brunson, Hart and Bridges are tanks. But these Knicks feel perilously close to “This Sure Is A Lot of Jericho Sims and Cam Payne” territory for a would-be title contender — especially in a conference featuring, among others, the defending-champion Celtics, the Paul George-bolstered 76ers, Giannis and Dame’s Bucks, and the Pacers squad that just ended the Knicks’ season.
“The East is definitely going to be tougher,” Hart said Monday. “A lot of teams made big moves this offseason, moves to shore up their rotation. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be a cakewalk. We know that. … But we’re extremely confident in what we have. Officially and unofficially.”
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Best-case scenario
Thibs stitches his new team together, with Brunson, the tip of his needle, earning All-NBA First Team honors. Towns fits seamlessly into his new surroundings, keying New York’s transformation into a marauding five-out attack that finishes at the top of the league in points scored per possession. Bridges’ shooting efficiency plays up in a more curtailed role, and a reduced workload allows him to return to All-Defensive-caliber work; Anunoby joins him there. Towns and Anunoby stay mostly healthy, and Robinson eventually joins them to give New York the back-line ballast to blow past 50 wins, make the conference finals, and test its version of Boston’s build against the blueprint.
If everything falls apart
The best-laid plans don’t knit neatly; chemistry proves elusive. Towns’ return to full-time rim-protection duty, combined with growing pains in a shifting scheme that incorporates more switching on the perimeter, leads to a serious drop-off on the defensive end, exacerbated by Robinson’s early-season absence. The injury woes rear their ugly heads, and significant absences for Towns and Anunoby lay bare the soft underbelly of the Knicks’ reshuffled roster. Thibs and Brunson are still able to grind out a playoff berth, but the Knicks’ try-hard sprinting once again runs out of gas against a team of long-distance runners.
Fantasy spin
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns got a boost in my latest rankings after the blockbuster trade. Brunson moved up a few spots in the second round, and Towns moved from a third-round value to a second-round value.
KAT enjoyed some of his best seasons statistically under Thibs and fantasy managers need to recognize the growth opportunities ahead. Towns could be looking at 12 rebounds per game and more shot-blocking potential with Mitchell Robinson sidelined, as KAT will be in the paint more than in his previous role in Minnesota. Adding more counting stats to his uber-efficient offensive skill set will be great for his fantasy outlook.
If OG Anunoby can stay healthy, his stocks and 3s will propel him to outperform his ADP at 96 overall. I’m slightly concerned about Mikal Bridges, though. In theory, he should be more efficient than last year because he’s in a supporting role versus being the star. But I can’t help but notice his jumper looks oddly different this offseason. Hopefully, he will regain that efficiency with increased stocks, as he did in Phoenix, but that new release looks a bit sus, just saying. — Dan Titus
2024-25 schedule
A five-win jump seems awfully steep for a team that essentially needs to build a new identity on the fly, and that is banking a ton on the health of several top-seven players with checkered injury histories. The Knicks may well be better equipped to make the conference finals come springtime, but I don’t see them rolling up 55 wins before they get there. I’ll go under.