Karl-Anthony Towns has given the Knicks something they badly need in the first weeks of the season: steady production that keeps showing up no matter what else is wobbling around him.
Against the Pistons, he delivered the kind of line that cuts through any debate - 27 points and 20 rebounds - and it pushed New York to victory. He has been the Knicks’ best player through the opening stretch, and that outing in Detroit was his strongest so far. More importantly, it reinforced the same theme Towns has been building since last year’s playoffs: the good things he found there didn’t disappear when the celebration ended.
The Knicks needed that kind of anchor because the rest of the starting group has been uneven. Before the Detroit game, Josh Hart and OG Anunoby were shooting just 41% from the field.
Jalen Brunson was at 39%. Mikal Bridges was at 22%.
Towns, by contrast, was sitting at 62% and kept pouring it on against the Pistons.
That contrast says a lot about how New York has managed to stay afloat early. The team is 1-3, but it has been close to 3-1, even 4-0. Doing that while getting sub-par shooting from four starters says something about the roster’s depth, but it also says plenty about Towns, who has remained active, engaged and productive while dealing with persistent foul trouble.
The Knicks also don’t play like a team that can simply snap into rhythm with a quick burst. Their style is slower, more methodical.
They need time to build. Right now, Towns is giving them exactly that - a player who can carry the load while the others try to find their footing.
And the stretch ahead only makes his value loom larger. For most of the next month, Towns won’t be facing anyone near his own level at his position and size. The matchup with Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t come until the end of November, and that one carries a little extra intrigue given what Towns won with New York a year ago and how often, before the trade deadline, he was tied to Milwaukee in deal chatter that would have sent Giannis to the Knicks.
Until then, the path runs through Jalen Smith, Jarrett Allen and Jakob Poeltl - solid NBA players, but not Towns’s equals. That gives New York a chance to keep leaning on him while Brunson works his way back after offseason wrist surgery and the other starters continue to fluctuate.
The best way to describe what Towns is doing is as a foundation piece. He’s not just lifting the Knicks’ floor or stretching their ceiling. He’s doing both, while also giving them something stable to stand on in a season that has already thrown enough noise at the group.
That kind of start matters in more ways than one. It can win games a team might not otherwise have any business winning, and those wins can matter a lot when the playoff seedings are sorted out later.
It also creates a tricky dynamic for owner James Dolan. Towns, Knicks fans and just about everyone else expected a new deal to be in place by now.
Instead, he’s playing better than any other starter while the team has stumbled out of the gate. If the rest of the starters keep slipping and Towns keeps humming, the leverage picture gets harder to ignore.
And if Dolan doesn’t pay up, the reaction won’t be hard to imagine.
In Other News...
Knicks May Have Pulled Off Another Quiet Draft-Night Win
The Knicks used the 30th pick on Sergio de Larrea, then quickly turned that selection into a different kind of asset by sending his rights to the Mavericks for two future second-round picks. It was the sort of maneuver that fits neatly with how New York has tried to work around its salary cap limitations, squeezing value wherever it can find it instead of simply standing pat on draft night.
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
The Knicks have been pulled into an early-season trade idea that already feels bigger than the standings around it. Miami opened with a 0-4 start after reshaping its roster in a blockbuster deal with Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis, and the rough beginning has only fueled chatter about how the new pieces fit with Bam Adebayo still anchoring the frontcourt.
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 🡒]