Andre Drummond has already turned the Knicks’ backup center spot into a nightly soap opera.
One game into the New York Knicks’ 2026-27 season, the early buzz was all about how good Drummond looked. He opened the year against the Philadelphia 76ers with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the first half alone, and for a moment it felt like the Knicks might have found a sneaky upgrade over Mitchell Robinson.
Then came the crash.
By Sunday’s loss to the Orlando Magic, Drummond was sitting for the entire second half. Mike Brown went a different direction after halftime, and James Wiseman got the look instead.
“I felt our transition defense wasn’t good during that time, not just because of [Drummond], but I wanted to go with a change,” Brown said after Sunday’s game. “Wiseman’s been playing well in practice.
I wanted to give him an opportunity, and I thought he was pretty good in his first stint [in the first half]. And so I decided to go with him for a second stint.
But Andre will go out there as a backup in the next game.”
That next game came Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons, and Drummond responded the way the Knicks needed him to. Brown had already said Drummond would handle the backup big minutes against Detroit, and with Jalen Duren out, the matchup gave him a clear opening to settle in.
He did exactly that.
In 14 minutes, Drummond scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Wiseman barely saw the floor until the end, once the outcome was already settled. Drummond also cleaned up the loose ends that had hurt him in the first three games: the transition defense looked steadier, and the missed shots that had sailed completely off the rim earlier in the season weren’t part of the story this time.
The numbers backed it up too. Drummond finished plus-16, second-best on the Knicks behind Josh Hart’s plus-19.
His 5:19 stretch in the second quarter was especially strong, with New York outscoring Detroit by 11 while he was on the court. The Knicks were down 13 after the first quarter, then went into halftime up one.
Drummond’s first week in New York has already swung wildly from impressive to shaky to productive again. After the opener, many wondered if he might be better than Robinson.
After Sunday, the questions were louder about whether the Knicks need more at backup center. After Tuesday, he at least reminded everyone why the role matters.
For now, the answer is still unsettled. And that’s exactly what makes Drummond such a strange early-season storyline for the Knicks.
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