The 2024-2025 NBA season is here! We analyze the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy prospects for all 30 teams. Enjoy!
NEW YORK KNICKLES
End 2023-24
Off-season moves
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Additions: Karl-Anthony Towns (unofficial!), 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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Deductions: Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, DaQuan Jeffries, Charlie Brown Jr., Duane Washington (again: unofficial!), Isaiah Hartenstein, Bojan Bogdanović, Alec Burks, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite
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Complete roster
The big question: will it all be worth it?
After a slew of injuries and a hail of Indiana jumpers kept them from reaching the Eastern Conference finals, the Knicks’ front office spent big to maintain their momentum. Half a decade 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 basically the mother of all sweetheart deals.)
It all made the Knicks appear poised to enter the season with one of the NBA’s best and deepest rotations — a team that, when Randle and center Mitchell Robinson returned from surgeries, had a chance to push past previous limits years to exceed.
“Obviously you would have liked to see that again and just get a feel for it, completely healthy,” swingman Josh Hart said at media day on Monday.
Team president Leon Rose had other plans.
“You know, you’re never satisfied,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You always want to try to get better. And when opportunities arise and you feel like it can improve the team, you want to take advantage of them.”
Rose took advantage and punctuated New York’s offseason with a lightning bolt. Out goes Randle, who averaged nearly 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game over five seasons as a Knick, and earned 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 three-pointers and steal at least 2% of the opponent’s offensive possessions. (The other four: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Paul George and the God George McCloud.)
Enter Towns – a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection who is on the verge of becoming the fourth 7-footer ever to make 1,000 career triples; who is fresh off a run in which he (partially) cashed in on his postseason reputation by successfully guarding Kevin Durant And Nikola Jokić in series wins (before struggling in the Western Conference finals); and who, as an apparent replacement for Randle And Hartenstein promises to dramatically change the shape of the franchise.
Jalen Brunson, all 6-foot-1, finished 12th in the NBA in points in the paint last season despite playing almost exclusively elbows-and-in-centers. Going from inside CAT to outside CAT – a speedy sniper adept at clearing opposing centers out of the paint – should broaden Brunson’s path to paydirt. Surrounding that combination with Anunoby and Bridges – center All-Defensive wings who have shot 41% and 39%, respectively, on catch-and-shoot 3s over the past four seasons – lethal complementary targets are placed all over the court.
Sprinkle in Hart — who, as he noted at media day, “has shown around the league that I can do a little bit of everything” — and the Knicks have the makings of a starting five that could be among the best in the league. Add in fourth-year guard Miles McBride, a top-ranked offensive defenseman who shot just 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 unleash Brunson even further.
“The most important thing, when summer comes, is just: where is my mindset? Where am I?” Brunson said Monday. ‘And I know where I stand. And me like where I am.”
The key: getting to those big matchups in one piece. Towns and Anunoby have missed a combined 213 regular-season games over the last four years. Robinson has missed 81 games over the past two and won’t be ready for another few months.
Sure, Brunson, Hart and Bridges are tanks. But these Knicks feel dangerously close to “This Sure Is A Lot of Jericho Sims and Cam Payne” territory for a potential title contender — especially in a conference that includes the defending champion Celtics, the Paul George-boosted 76ers , Giannis and Dame’s Bucks , and the Pacers team that just finished the Knicks’ season.
“The East will definitely have a tougher time,” Hart said Monday. “Many teams have taken big steps this offseason, steps to strengthen their rotation. It won’t be easy. It’s not going to be a piece of cake. We know that. … But we have tremendous confidence in what we have. Official and unofficial.”
At best
Thibs puts his new team together, with Brunson, the tip of his needle, earning All-NBA First Team honors. Towns has fit seamlessly into his new surroundings, translating New York’s transformation into a marauding five-out offense that finishes atop the league in points scored per possession. Bridges’ shooting efficiency plays a more limited role, and a reduced workload allows him to return to All-Defensive caliber work; Anunoby joins him there. Towns and Anunoby remain largely healthy, and Robinson eventually joins them to give New York the back-line ballast to get past 50 wins, reach the conference finals and test Boston’s version of the build against the blueprint .
When everything falls apart
The best laid plans do not fit neatly together; chemistry proves elusive. Towns’ return to full-time rim protection duties, combined with growing pains in a shift plan that includes more switching on the perimeter, is leading to a serious regression on the defensive end, exacerbated by Robinson’s absence early in the season. Injury woes are rearing their ugly heads, and significant absences for Towns and Anunoby expose the soft underbelly of the Knicks’ reshuffled roster. Thibs and Brunson are still capable of clinching a playoff berth, but the Knicks’ hard sprinting is once again running out of gas against a team of long-distance runners.
Fantasy twist
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 had 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 highly efficient offensive skillset will be great for his fantasy world.
If OG Anunoby can stay healthy, his stocks and 3s will push him to outperform his ADP at 96 overall. I’m a little concerned about Mikal Bridges, though. In theory, he should be more efficient than last year because he plays a supporting role instead of being the star. But I notice that his jersey looks strangely different in the offseason. Hopefully he’ll regain that efficiency with bigger inventories, like he did in Phoenix, but that new release looks a little dull, so to speak. — Then Titus
Schedule 2024-25
A jump of five wins seems very steep for a team that essentially has to build a new identity on the fly, and that has a tons about the health of several top-seven players with a checkered injury history. The Knicks may be better equipped to make the conference finals in the spring, but I don’t see them getting to 55 wins before they get there. I’m going down.
