The Knicks’ 0-3 start has put Jalen Brunson in the middle of the conversation, and he’s not running from it. After New York dropped its home game to Orlando on Sunday night, the star guard took the blame for a sluggish opening stretch that has left the defending champs searching for answers.
Brunson finished with a team-high 28 points, but it came on a difficult shooting night: 12-of-28 from the floor and 1-of-7 from three. He made it clear afterward that he sees the responsibility as his.
“Everything falls on my shoulders,” Brunson told reporters. “I just got to be a better leader when it comes to that, when it comes to our guys are ready to go in the right spots. There’s a lot of other little things, but it’s organization on my part.”
New York is now the first title team to open the next season with three straight losses since Dallas did it in 2011, according to Vincent Goodwill of ESPN. The issues have shown up in a few different places, but the biggest problem has been on offense.
The Knicks entered the night ranked 29th in offensive efficiency, and the shooting from deep didn’t help against Orlando either. New York hit just 9 of 37 from beyond the arc, a 23.7% clip, while the defense broke down late and surrendered 40 points in the fourth quarter as a double-digit lead vanished.
Brunson said the rough patch is exactly the sort of test the team expected to face early.
“One thing I said throughout the entire training camp, and honestly to this day, is we’re going to see who we are within the first couple weeks of the season,” Brunson said. “So, we’re hitting adversity now. How are we going to respond?”
There was also a notable benching story coming out of Sunday’s loss. Backup center Andre Drummond, brought in during free agency to fill the spot left by Mitchell Robinson, was taken out in the second quarter and did not return after what appeared to be a lack of effort, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
The sequence came after Drummond was slow getting back on defense, which allowed Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. to score in transition. Mike Brown immediately called timeout and sat Drummond for the rest of the game.
James Wiseman took over those minutes, though he didn’t make much of an impact, finishing scoreless with two rebounds in seven minutes. Drummond said he was not given an explanation for the move.
“You can make the guess for me,” Drummond said, adding that he’s “probably not” owed an explanation.
Before the game, Brown made one thing clear: the starting group is set, but the rest of the rotation will have to be earned.
“First thing I wanna make clear is we have our starting five. Other than that, anybody can play,” Brown said. “When you’re a backup in this league, that doesn’t mean you’re always gonna be the seventh man or you’re always gonna be the eighth man.
Brown also addressed the decision to move on from Kevin McCullar Jr. when Dalton Knecht was signed to a two-way contract on Friday, saying the choice had nothing to do with McCullar’s effort.
“It wasn’t anything that Kevin didn’t do, he was great,” Brown said. “… It was more so having the opportunity to bring a guy like Dalton on just to get to know him a little bit better.”
In Other News...
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De Larrea was already playing professionally in Spain, and soon after the draft he helped Valencia win the Liga ACB title, adding another layer to a player the Knicks never intended to keep. New York also knew Dallas had been linked to him and had the front office ties to make the deal work, which is why this looked less like a pass on a prospect and more like a calculated bet on information and timing. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Just Got Pulled Into A Wild Karl-Anthony Towns Trade Idea
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What makes the speculation more interesting from New Yorks side is the path some are floating to get there: a swap centered on Adebayo and Tim Hardaway Jr. for Karl-Anthony Towns. Nothing has been confirmed by Miami, and the Heat could easily give the group more time to settle in, but the mere fact the Knicks are part of this kind of conversation says a lot about how quickly the league starts chasing the next big idea when a new roster stumbles out of the gate. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Already Have A Real Andre Drummond Debate On Their Hands
Andre Drummonds first few weeks as the Knicks backup center have already turned into a small but real rotation conversation. He opened the 2026-27 season with a double-double, then saw his minutes dip in the next games as Mike Brown adjusted the lineup, a familiar kind of early-season sorting-out process for a team still figuring out how it wants to use its depth. Even so, Brown has made clear Drummond remains in the backup mix, which matters for a bench frontcourt that needs a dependable presence when the starters sit.
Drummond gave the Knicks a reminder of why that role is worth monitoring in the win over Detroit, when he scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 14 minutes. It was a cleaner, more productive showing than some of his earlier outings, and it gave New York a useful glimpse of what he can offer when the minutes are there. The larger question now is whether that performance is the start of a steadier climb back into a bigger share of the center rotation. [Read more 🡒]