The Knicks may have solved one frontcourt problem this offseason, but they’ve opened the door to another familiar one: Josh Hart being asked to do the dirty work he’d rather leave to somebody else.
New York brought in Andre Drummond to help cover for Mitchell Robinson, who joined the Boston Celtics, but the roster still has a hole behind the bigs. Ariel Hukporti drew more than the minimum from the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Knicks haven’t replaced him yet. That leaves Mike Brown with a potential fix already in house, even if Hart has made it clear he’s not exactly campaigning for the assignment.
Hart’s dislike for that kind of role has been on the record for a while. During the second round of the 2024 Eastern Conference Playoffs, he was asked about the idea of embracing power forward minutes for the Knicks, and he answered with his usual dry humor:
"I'm a shooting guard, I think. I lost an inch.
I was 6'5" my whole career, I was 6'4" this year. I don't think a 6'4" power forward sounds good"
That joke carried a real point. Hart has never sounded thrilled about banging inside against bigger bodies, but the Knicks have kept leaning on his flexibility anyway.
Even with a splint on his right ring finger for the entire 2025-26 season, Hart still backed up his shooting-guard claim in another way. He hit 41.3% from 3-point range on 3.7 attempts per game, a reminder that his value isn’t tied to one neat label.
That’s part of the problem, and part of the solution. Hart doesn’t fit cleanly into one position, and in today’s NBA that matters less than what he can cover on the floor. Coaches care more about what a player can do than where he’s supposed to stand.
Brown started his first season with the Knicks by sticking with the most recent starting group, which had Robinson in Hart’s place. But Robinson’s load management made that setup hard to maintain, especially with back-to-backs constantly forcing lineup changes. Brown eventually handed Hart the job back.
OG Anunoby remains the obvious first option at power forward. His frame, length and defense let him match up with centers as well as players his own size. Karl-Anthony Towns, meanwhile, just finished his third straight season leading the NBA’s offensive foul leaderboard.
Robinson wasn’t always available, but when he was on the floor he gave the Knicks one of the league’s best bench options and another starting-level big to work with. Without that kind of cover now, Brown will be looking to players like Anunoby and Hart to help stabilize the defense around Drummond.
And Hart has already shown he can do it. He was asked to switch onto C.J.
McCollum in the 2026 postseason, then held up in spurts against Victor Wembanyama later on. That kind of versatility is exactly why Brown will keep coming back to him, even if Hart would probably prefer not to spend so much time setting screens and doing the heavy lifting underneath.
In Other News...
Knicks Face A Costly Karl-Anthony Towns Decision Soon
Karl-Anthony Towns helped the Knicks reach a championship level last season, but his future in New York is already becoming a front-office puzzle. With the roster built to contend right away, the Knicks have to keep one eye on the present and another on the salary cap, and that makes every major decision around Towns carry real weight.
Towns is eligible for a massive extension, yet the cost of committing that kind of money could force New York into difficult choices about which core pieces it can keep together. If the Knicks decide not to lock him in soon, they may have to weigh a trade or risk seeing him reach free agency after next season, turning a title asset into a looming roster crossroads. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Still Have One Frontcourt Problem Andre Drummond Doesn't Solve
The Knicks added Andre Drummond to help absorb the loss of Mitchell Robinson, and on paper it gives them another proven body in the frontcourt. But the fit question is bigger than simple depth. Drummond brings size and rebounding, yet he does not offer Robinsons defensive mobility, and he does not solve the lineup wrinkle that comes with Karl-Anthony Towns.
That matters because New York did not just lean on Robinson and Towns as a pairing in a handful of looks, it used them effectively enough to make the combination part of the broader conversation about how the roster should function. Drummond can help steady the middle, but the Knicks still appear to need another big who can share the floor with Towns if they want to keep both their flexibility and their defensive edge intact. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Offseason May Have Created A Frontcourt Problem
The Knicks spent much of the offseason keeping things tidy rather than dramatic, bringing back several players on team-friendly deals while taking a more conservative path in the draft. That approach fit a front office focused on flexibility, but it also left the roster looking a little thin in one specific area, especially for a team that had chances to add some younger help up front.
Now the concern is less about what New York did add and more about what it did not. Without a young, controllable rookie big man in place, the Knicks may have to piece together that part of the roster with veteran free agents or even a training camp invitee, which is hardly the cleanest way to solve a frontcourt need before the season begins. [Read more 🡒]