The Knicks are coming back with the same core, but that doesn’t mean the jobs around it will stay the same.
New York’s only clear frontcourt swap so far is Mitchell Robinson out and Andre Drummond in, and while there will almost certainly be smaller moves before the March 1 deadline for playoff rosters, the bigger shifts are expected to happen in the way the Knicks actually play. After a season in which the team kept tinkering on the fly, the most important adjustments may come from within.
Karl-Anthony Towns looks like the biggest candidate to see his role change again. Last season’s changes clearly threw him at first, and he was open about how difficult those regular-season adjustments were.
By the time the playoffs arrived, though, he looked like a different version of himself - a two-way center who had been waiting for the right stage. He took fewer shots, but the ones he got were better, and that showed in the results, especially from long range.
His shot quality improved because his role changed from second banana to big cheese.
At 7 feet with that kind of touch, Towns operating as a point center 25 feet from the basket was too much for four playoff teams to handle, and he needed only 15 tries in 16 games to make that point. Part of why it worked is that he played with more patience. Known more often for bulldozing drives that end in offensive fouls, playoff Towns leaned into floaters and eurosteps and stayed away from contact.
He also cleaned things up on the defensive end. Towns didn’t go for as many shot fakes, and his block rate jumped from 1.5 during the season to 4.4 in the playoffs, a mark he hadn’t hit since he was 20 years old.
The foul trouble eased up too, especially on loose-ball fouls. After committing one loose-ball foul every 58 minutes in the 2025 playoffs, he stretched that to one every 72 minutes this past postseason, a 24% drop.
If the Knicks don’t add another center, they need that playoff version of Towns from the start.
That change would ripple into Josh Hart’s responsibilities as well. Hart has already proven he can handle just about anything, and that matters even more now with Towns handling more offense, Robinson gone, and the center room thinner. Hart’s rebounding becomes even more important, especially the kind that sparks possessions and flips games.
Drummond brought a new wrinkle last year by hitting three-pointers, but he isn’t Towns as a scoring threat and he doesn’t bring Robinson’s speed or athleticism. So when Drummond is on the floor without Towns, the Knicks will want to push the pace and get good looks before the defense gets set. Hart’s ability to grab a board and go can create easy points and the kind of secondary transition spacing that changes possessions fast.
Mo Diawara might have the widest range of outcomes on the roster. He could end up as the team’s most valuable trade chip, but he also has a path to being an important bridge between the regular season and the playoffs. With Anunoby, Bridges and Hart carrying heavy nightly loads, and with the roster leaning more toward small guards than wings, there’s room for a player who can keep the offense moving while also fitting into a defense that can lock teams down.
Diawara shot 36.9% from three during the 2025-26 season. If he can do that again and add some punch attacking closeouts, the Knicks should be able to hold steady at a position that matters.
If Hart keeps doing what he always does, the rhythm stays intact on both ends. If Towns’s playoff run was the real thing and not just a hot streak, then the Knicks may be looking at a very different kind of season.
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For the Knicks, the hesitation is easy to understand. Towns remains a high-end offensive piece, but any commitment of that size has to be weighed against the clubs cap constraints, his age and the injury questions that have followed him. New York still has every reason to value him as part of its core, yet the stalled negotiations suggest the front office is trying to balance urgency with caution, and the next step in that conversation may matter more than the club expected when the offseason began. [Read more 🡒]