The Milwaukee Bucks may have to navigate their matchup with the New York Knicks without their most reliable scorer.
Tyler Herro showed up on the injury report Monday night as questionable with a right knee contusion, putting his status in doubt for Nov. 10 at New York. For a Bucks team that has stumbled to a 1-9 start, that’s the kind of setback that can make a bad situation look even worse.
Herro has been the one steady force in Milwaukee’s early-season mess. He’s played in all 10 games, logged a team-high 30.7 minutes per night and carried the offense with 21.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. He’s also shot 45.5% from the field and 39.7% from 3-point range, giving the Bucks a dependable creator while the rest of the roster has searched for rhythm.
That production lines up with what he did in his last five seasons in Miami, where he averaged 21.4 points per game while shooting 45.5% from the field and 38.4% from 3-point range. Milwaukee brought him home to Wisconsin expecting him to be a centerpiece, and so far he’s delivered.
The concern now is whether the Bucks can absorb his absence if he doesn’t suit up. Herro has already shown he can score in bunches even when the first quarter doesn’t go his way, and Milwaukee has leaned on that consistency more than anything else this season.
Behind him, Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been the next-best scorer at 15.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48.3% from the field and 42.5% from deep. But his production has been uneven at times, including Sunday night against the Boston Celtics, when he finished with four points on 1-for-3 shooting and missed both of his 3-point attempts.
Herro wasn’t at his sharpest in that game either, scoring 13 points on 5-for-12 shooting and 1-for-5 from 3-point range. Even so, he has still been the most dependable option on the roster by a wide margin.
If he can’t play against the Knicks, the Bucks would need more from Ryan Rollins, Kasparas Jakucionis and AJ Green. Rollins, especially, is a player Milwaukee needs to wake up after a disappointing start following his breakout season.
In Other News...
James Dolan May Be Standing In The Knicks' Way Again
Karl-Anthony Towns irritation over not having a contract extension appears to be aimed less at the Knicks basketball operations staff than at owner James Dolan, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. The backdrop here is straightforward enough: New York has been working through the realities of a pricey roster, and the extension conversation has become part of that larger picture as the team tries to balance present ambition with future flexibility.
Dolans reluctance to push the Knicks into the NBAs second salary cap apron has added another layer to the discussion, with the concern centered on roster-building restrictions rather than simple spending. The Athletic piece lays out how those second-apron rules can limit what a team can do, while also noting that New York is already living with some of those constraints because of its current salary situation, which makes the extension question feel less like a routine negotiation and more like a test of how far the franchise is willing to go. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Face A Bigger Karl-Anthony Towns Decision Than Fans Realize
The Knicks have already put a big number on the table for Karl-Anthony Towns, with a reported offer in the $45 million to $50 million per year range, but there still is not an extension in place. For a team that has spent recent seasons trying to build around star power, the hesitation says as much about long-term planning as it does about Towns himself.
New York is weighing more than just the immediate fit. The front office is wary of locking into another expensive deal that could age badly as stars get older, especially with salary cap rules making every major commitment harder to unwind. The result is a familiar Knicks balancing act, one that could shape not only Towns' future but the flexibility of the roster around him. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Keep Finding Bargains And Jordan Clarkson Is Proving Why
The Knicks have made a habit of squeezing real value out of the margins, and Jordan Clarkson is the latest example. On a veterans minimum deal, he has been one of their most productive players this season and has even led the team in plus/minus through its first nine games, a reminder that bargain contracts can carry real weight when the roster is built the right way.
Landry Shamet offered a similar blueprint last season, arriving on a non-guaranteed deal before turning that opportunity into a multi-year contract after helping in the playoffs. In a salary cap era where every usable rotation piece matters, New York has shown it can uncover players who outperform the price tag, and Clarkson is giving that approach another boost. [Read more 🡒]