The Knicks’ Las Vegas Summer League opener was ugly, but it also comes with a giant asterisk.
New York got rolled 91-65 by the Nets on Friday, a rough showing that looked nothing like the team that was last on the floor nearly a month ago, when it was raising the Larry O’Brien Trophy. That contrast is the whole story here: summer league basketball and the NBA Finals are living in completely different worlds.
The important part for Knicks fans is simple enough: this result does not mean much.
The title team’s core isn’t here. Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anuboby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson and Mitchell Robinson - now on the Celtics - were the 10 players who handled the non-garbage-time minutes during the championship run, and none of them are in summer league. This roster is built around a completely different group.
That includes Mohamed Diawara and Pacome Dadiet, the only two players on this summer league squad who saw any meaningful playoff action at all. Between them, they logged just 83 minutes across 19 playoff games, and those came largely because 11 of New York’s first 12 wins were by double digits.
Diawara had a night to forget. The 2025 second-round pick went 1-for-9 from the field and 1-for-6 from three-point range. Even so, he looks like the only player on the current summer league roster with a realistic chance to matter next season.
Tyler Nickel was the one bright spot from deep. The second-round pick, selected 47th overall out of Vanderbilt last month, hit 6 of 10 shots from three-point range.
Without that outburst, the Knicks’ shooting line would have looked even worse. As it stood, New York shot 28 percent overall and 23 percent from beyond the arc, with the rest of the team combining to go 3-for-29.
The final numbers were brutal: a 26-point loss and just 65 points scored. But after an NBA championship, that kind of summer league result carries far less weight for Knicks fans than it once would have. New York’s championship odds for 2026-27 are not going to be shaped by what happened Friday in Las Vegas.
In Other News...
Knicks Fans Finally Get A Look At One Intriguing Newcomer
The first real look at Jack Kayil has been a little slower in coming than Knicks fans probably hoped after New York took the Alba Berlin guard with the 39th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Kayil sat out the clubs first Summer League game because of a delay tied to his team in Germany, but the wait appears close to ending, giving the Knicks a chance to see the kind of newcomer they added after trading down and stockpiling second-round picks in a draft shaped by their salary cap realities.
Kayils arrival also comes with the usual questions that follow an international pick in this spot. He does not have an obvious opening on the big club right now, and the Knicks may ultimately leave him in Germany next season as a draft-and-stash option. For now, though, the more immediate intrigue is simply getting him on the floor, with his debut expected soon and a matchup against the Spurs looming as the next chance for New York to evaluate what it has. [Read more 🡒]
Jordan Clarksons Return Just Put More Heat On Tyler Kolek
Jordan Clarksons return gives the Knicks another experienced guard option and, in the process, tightens an already crowded backcourt picture. For Tyler Kolek, that means the margin for error keeps shrinking as he tries to carve out a real role in a rotation that already has Deuce McBride, Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado ahead of him.
Kolek still has time to change the conversation, but the path back into meaningful minutes looks anything but straightforward. Unless the Knicks make a move that reshapes the guard group or injuries open a lane, he is left waiting for an opening that may not come quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks May Have Made Their Smartest Summer Move Without Fixing Center
The Knicks spent part of the summer adding familiar depth pieces in Jose Alvarado, Landry Shamet and Andre Drummond, but the quieter move may have come in the draft-pick column. New York has also picked up four future second-rounders in recent trades, a stash of low-cost assets that gives the front office more ways to keep tinkering without touching the top of the roster.
That matters because the center spot still looks like the area most worth watching, even after the Drummond addition. The Knicks have been linked to other frontcourt possibilities, including Kyle Filipowski, and the extra picks could give them a path to chase another big or package together a broader trade if they decide the current group still needs one more answer inside. [Read more 🡒]