The Knicks are staring at one open roster spot, and the temptation is obvious: use it on a third center in case Karl-Anthony Towns or Andre Drummond goes down.
With free agency offering little help, a trade looks like the other path to filling that hole. Pacôme Dadiet is the name fans usually toss out first, but he doesn’t bring much trade value. That’s why Miles “Deuce” McBride keeps coming up next - and that’s exactly why New York should be careful.
McBride is about to turn 26, and he’s been on a bargain deal that runs through next season. His next contract could push the Knicks into the dreaded second apron. But this is a team trying to repeat, and the numbers say McBride matters too much to move for a third center.
The on-court results are hard to ignore. In the playoffs, New York outscored opponents by 141 points in the 333 minutes McBride played. The Knicks were plus-20.2 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, a better mark than when he sat during the team’s historic championship run.
The regular season told a similar story. New York was 10.2 points better per 100 possessions with McBride on the court, and the club was significantly better in both the regular season and playoffs in 2024-25 when he played.
McBride also admitted in an interview with Knicks Film School's Jonathan Macri at Fanatics Fest that he was gutting it out during the playoff run after missing nearly two months of the regular season with a sports hernia. He looked like he may have reinjured himself after returning, but he didn’t miss any time.
That may help explain why the outside shot wasn’t always there in the postseason. Still, even when the jumper wasn’t falling, McBride kept giving the Knicks value.
The numbers also suggest he’s best used as a shooting guard rather than the primary ball handler. With Jalen Brunson, Jose Alvarado, and Tyler Kolek in the mix, the Knicks have enough depth to keep McBride in the role that helps the team most.
And even when his offense is off, McBride brings the kind of defense that never takes a night off. At 6-foot-2, he’d probably be an All-Defensive-caliber player if he were a couple of inches taller. As it stands, he still makes life miserable for whoever he’s guarding.
Yes, there’s a chance he walks after next season and New York gets nothing back. But with a title defense in front of them, the Knicks should value McBride more than a third center. And even if he does leave, the front office has earned the trust.
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The larger frustration is the same one that has followed the Sixers for years, even as the names around Embiid have changed and the expectations have stayed high. They keep getting back to the postseason, they keep looking dangerous on paper, and they keep running into the same wall before the finish line, which is exactly why every new splash in Philadelphia lands with a little extra weight in New York. [Read more 🡒]