Jalen Brunson’s reputation as the Knicks’ late-game answer is intact, but the early returns this season point somewhere else when the game tightens up: Karl-Anthony Towns.
Brunson has not looked like himself through New York’s first six games. The reigning Finals MVP is shooting 39.5 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from three, both career-worst marks.
That slide has carried into clutch situations, where he has hit just five of 13 shots, or 38.5 percent, across the Knicks’ 17 minutes of clutch time this season. That total ranks third-most in the league.
Towns has been the sharper option in those moments. In close-game situations, he’s shooting 57.1 percent from the floor and 60.0 percent from deep. Even so, the Knicks have continued to lean on Brunson to close games, and the result has been a 2-4 start.
There is a clear reason Brunson has been working through this stretch. He had surgery on his left shooting wrist this past offseason and spent several months in a cast and away from basketball activities.
Rust is part of the story. But until his shot comes back to its usual level, the safer bet for coach Mike Brown may be the player who has been producing right now.
That player has been Towns, and he’s making a strong case in the process.
The Knicks chose not to give Towns a new multi-year extension this offseason, even after he delivered the best year of his career and played a major part in the team winning its first championship since 1973. So far, he’s responding by putting together the kind of start that makes that decision look risky.
Through the opening stretch of the season, Towns has been New York’s most productive player. He’s averaging 21.8 points, 13.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 57.5 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from three.
His slimmer frame has also stood out. Towns looks more mobile, quicker off the dribble and more effective defensively, and his 107 defensive rating is the second-best of his career.
It’s still a very small sample, and the season is barely a month old. But the early message from Towns is loud enough: he looks determined to show the Knicks exactly what they passed on this summer.
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The bigger issue is that New York does not have an obvious quick fix. The Knicks are trying to find lineup combinations that keep Brunson in a better offensive environment, but the current setup has made that harder than expected. Until they settle on a solution, the burden on Brunson is likely to stay heavier than the Knicks would prefer. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Just Revisited The Villain Role He Played Against The Knicks
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Wembanyama said the villain label did not bother him, but he did come away knowing he has to better control his competitiveness. Even with that reflection, his season still underscored why the Spurs view him as central to everything they do, with Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBA honors already on his resume and his current production keeping him in the leagues upper tier. [Read more 🡒]