In what was the best season the Knicks had since their runs to the NBA Finals and Eastern Conference Finals in 1999 and 2000, the franchise has many questions to answer this coming offseason.
Following the team’s gut-wrenching Game 7 home loss in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Indiana Pacers, the Knicks were a shell of their healthy, former selves. They saw their best player in a post-surgery cast, their second-best player recovering from surgery, two more starters becoming unrestricted free agents, and two more key bench pieces underwent surgery during the playoffs.
It feels like a decade ago when the Knicks had a stretch in which they went 16-3 after the trade was made to acquire OG Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors. The team that was fully intact was truly a buzzsaw, but it remains to be seen what they could have done in the playoffs with the full squad in place.
As the Knicks embark on the rapidly approaching preseason, there are many areas of the team that have been addressed. Other facets still have question marks. Let’s take a dive into the outlook of the team for the upcoming season, and how they got there through this offseason.
Business Began With the Draft
The Knicks had quite the busy few nights when it came to the NBA Draft. After numerous trades up and down the board in each round, they wounded up with raw 18-year-old French wing Pacôme Dadiet in the first round, along with two established veteran college players in the second round: Marquette point guard Tyler Kolek and Kansas guard Kevin McCullar. They also added German big man Ariel Hukporti with the final pick of the draft.
While Dadiet figures to spend a good chunk of this coming season in the G League due to a clogged rotation and need for development, Kolek is ready to contribute to this team immediately. He may not crack the opening-night rotation due to how much the team seems to love Deuce McBride’s energy off the bench, Kolek has the chance to seamlessly slide into the backcourt rotation should anyone get injured early in the season.
Kolek’s elite playmaking in college continued to shine in Summer League, averaging seven assists per game to just one turnover.
As for McCullar and Hukporti, both should also see most of their time in the G League. If either is to find themselves in the rotation this season, I would lean towards Hukporti due to the lack of center depth on the roster, but both are older prospects with more refined games than Dadiet.
Knicks Went All-In This Offseason
Free agency saw the Knicks have to make some difficult decisions in the midst of fans swarming and trying to figure out how to keep notable unrestricted free agents Isaiah Hartenstein and OG Anunoby.
Not only them, but playoff contributors Precious Achiuwa and Alec Burks hit the open market. All of this was happening in the midst of Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle being on the doorstep of massive contract extensions.
Before the dust could settle on free agency opening, the Knicks made a massive trade. The team acquired wing Mikal Bridges and Keita Bates-Diop from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic, Shake Milton, Mamadi Diakite and six first-round picks.
It was a massive blockbuster trade, as Bridges rejoins three of his fellow national champion college teammates (Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo). It was the first trade the Knicks and Nets made since 1983, and it was a big one at that. Bridges gives the Knicks elite perimeter defense and three-point shooting, pairing him and freshly re-signed Anunoby (five years/$212.5M) has perhaps the best tandem of “Three-and-D” wings in the NBA.
The Knicks were now built to stop the defending champion Boston Celtics, by combatting their elite wing play with elite wing play.
That was not all, however. ‘
Brunson had already solidified himself as one of the faces of the city after what he did in the 2024 NBA playoffs. He furthered that image as a hero in the city by leaving an absurd amount of money on the table in his extension talks, in order to continue building a winner around him.
The 27-year-old inked a four-year, $156.5 million contract extension, tying him to the franchise through the summer of 2029. Leaving about $113 million on the table, Brunson sacrificed himself for the good of the team. This will give the front office a lot more flexibility going forward, and allows him to keep his friends/teammates from college around.
Through all of this chaos, the hard-capped Knicks had to allow Isaiah Hartenstein to walk to the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency. He signed a three-year, $87 million contract, an offer in which the Knicks could not compete with after paying Anunoby the largest contract in franchise history and fixated on the impending Brunson extension.
More recently, Precious Achiuwa signed a one-year, $6 million contract to stay with the Knicks. In a position the Knicks were desperate for depth, they keep a player that is familiar with the system and chemistry in the locker room. Center is the most shallow position on the roster, as at least one of Achiuwa, Jericho Sims, and the aforementioned Hukporti will need to step up in the event of another Mitchell Robinson absence.
Veteran point guard Cameron Payne also signed a one-year, veteran minimum contract with the Knicks in free agency. He gives them an older presence in the locker room as well as ball handling and shooting depth.
Everyone, exhale. In what was a dramatic and eventful bulk of the offseason, the roster seems mostly set. The Randle extension looms, but he seems content to enter this season healthier and ready to prove he’s worth another financial commitment from the franchise.
I cannot remember higher expectations in the preseason for this team. It has been — literally — decades since they had this amount of hype from the national media. The power of friendship will truly be put to the test this coming season.
An Eastern Conference Finals appearance feels like the bare minimum, and confetti followed by a parade on 34th street feels well within reach.
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